Forever and Always
by AudreyDarke96
Summary: With Silas supposedly gone for good, Audrey is looking forward for the few peaceful months to come. But of course this is Mystic Falls and there isn't ever really a peaceful moment, is there? Not with people coming back from the dead, a human Katherine, missing friends, and a college obsessed Caroline. Fifth installment of my Vampire Diaries saga.
1. June

_I want you forever, forever and always_  
><em>Through the good and the bad and the ugly<em>  
><em>We'll grow old together, and always remember<em>  
><em>Whether happy or sad or whatever<em>  
><em>We'll still love each other, forever and always<em>

_~Forever and Always by Parachute_

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><p><strong>Well I'm back guys. Sorry it took so long to get this started but I've been swamped with school and I'm sure you all know how that goes. Well, better late than never, I guess. Anyway, hope you enjoy the first chapter of Forever And Always.<strong>

_Disclaimer- I don't own the Vampire Diaries, Marvel, or anything else you recognize. _

**Chapter One-June**

**Audrey's P.O.V**

I pulled up in front of the boarding house and turned off the Impala before turning to Elena to see that, save for a few patches of dried blood and a torn outfit, she seemed to be unscathed from our fight with Katherine. My wounds had also healed by now but there was much more blood covering me from where Katherine had staked me in both the stomach and throat. All in all we were fine and if I had to rank my near death experiences from the day this would have come in last place.

After Elena had shoved the cure down Katherine's throat and she had told me what had happened with Kol, he had tried to kill her but had disappeared before he could do any real damage, we decided to head home. I was pulled out of my musings by the sound of the passengers side door opening as Elena tried to exit. Without so much as a glance in her direction, I slammed the door shut with my telekinesis, keeping it shut when she tried opening it again. After a few moments of this, Elena finally realized that I was the one keeping her door shut and sighed before turning in her seat to face me.

"What the hell was that back there?" I questioned her before she could get a word out, her face clouding in confusion by my question, "You know, when you gave Katherine the _only_ cure for vampirism?"

"She was going to kill you, Audrey." Elena pointed out, "I did it to save you."

"There were other ways of saving me without wasting the cure on Katherine." I said as I turned to face my cousin, "Ripping her so called heart out for example."

"I panicked okay!" Elena snapped, "She was gonna kill you and I had the cure. It was the first thing that came to mind. So sorry for trying to save you, Audrey."

"Elena, I'm not upset with you or anything. It's just…." I trailed off with a sigh, trying to calm myself down, "That cure was it. The only way you were going to be a human again. You do realize that right?"

"Of course I realize that but I already lost Jeremy, I wasn't going to loose you too." I felt my heart break a little at her words and immediately felt terrible for pushing her, "And if that meant being a vampire then so be it."

I watched Elena for a few moments not sure of what to say before sighing and opening my own door and allowing Elena to do the same. "Well, I guess I owe you a thank you." I said as I began walking toward the front door of the boarding house, Elena following behind me, "So thanks."

Elena didn't say a word as we entered the boarding house and I immediately headed up to my room to clean up. I noticed Damon lounging on our bed reading _Gone With The Wind _as I entered the room, but as soon as he heard me he looked up and was shocked by all the blood covering me.

"What the hell happened to you?" Damon asked, voice full of concern, as he threw his book to the side and got off the bed before walking up to me.

"Kitty Kat paid Elena and I a visit while we were looking for Jeremy at the school." I told him as I headed into the bathroom, grabbing a hair binder and throwing my hair into a loose bun allowing me easier access to my neck so I could get rid off all the blood. "Trust me, between Katherine and I, I got off easy."

"Let me guess, she's laying somewhere with her heart halfway across the room from her." Damon said as he leaned against one of the sinks and crossed his arms over his chest. I stood in front of the other sink, taking off my now ruined shirt before looking myself over in the mirror to see that I was covered in a good amount of blood.

"If I had it my way that would be true." I replied, throwing my shirt in the thrash before grabbing a towel and beginning to wipe off all the blood, "Though I gotta say, Katherine may wish that had happened when she wakes up." I turned to see confusion written all over Damon's face before I continued, "Elena shoved the cure down Katherine's throat to save me."

"A human Katherine?" Damon questioned in disdain and I nodded as I got rid of the last bit of blood. I set the towel on the edge of the sink before walking past Damon and heading back into the room and over to the closet.

"Yep." I said, quickly changing into a pair of black sweatpants and a red tank top, "And I'm sure that isn't going to come back and bite us in the ass." I turned around and wasn't surprised in the least to find Damon standing less than a foot in front of me, concern once again the most dominant emotion playing across his face.

"We can deal with that later. Right now I just wanna make sure you're okay." Damon said before bringing up his hand to cup my cheek.

"What, me? I'll be fine. It takes more than a few near death experiences to faze me." I said jokingly, but continued when I noticed that Damon was serious, "I will be fine, Damon." I told him, giving him a quick kiss before adding, "But I might need a drink... or five first." I smirked as I took Damon's hand in mine and pulled him out of the room in search of booze.

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><p>Seeing as I lived with arguably the most alcoholic person on the planet, it didn't take more than a walk to the parlor to find the bourbon along with Aurora who was still celebrating graduation and me not dying. I had decided to forgo a glass and ended up just sharing a bottle with Damon instead seeing as we would probably just drink the whole thing anyway. Almost twenty minutes later we heard the front door open and I didn't even bother to look, figuring it was just Stefan returning from dumping Silas's body. I heard Aurora gasp as I took another swig of bourbon and nearly choked when I saw my formerly dead cousin standing in front of me. I was skeptical for all of a second before I realized that both Aurora and Damon could see Jeremy as well.<p>

"Oh my God." I said in a whisper, mindlessly passing the bottle in my hand to Damon, getting to my feet and running over to Jeremy in a fraction of a second. I felt tears of joy form in my eyes as I looked at Jeremy, quickly wrapping my arms around him in a tight hug.

"A little tight there, Audrey." Jeremy chuckled as he returned the hug with a smile, "Remember, I'm not invincible."

I pulled back with a scoff and pushed him back lightly, unable to keep a smile off of my face at the lame joke. I heard the sound of the floor creaking coming from down the hall and both Jeremy and I turned to see Elena looking at us in shock. She stood frozen, clearly unsure of what to make of the what she was seeing. After a moment it seemed like she didn't care about whether or not she was seeing things and attacked Jeremy with a hug. I watched the siblings with a smile. Deep down I knew that Jeremy coming back from the dead would have some sort of consequence, but at the moment I didn't care at all because all that mattered was that he was back.

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><p>After Elena and Jeremy separated and Aurora and Damon had welcomed Jeremy back, we all moved back into the parlor to figure out what had happened. I mean, it's not every day that someone returned from the dead, granted it did happen much more in Mystic Falls but not without cause.<p>

"How exactly are we all talking to you right now, Jeremy." I asked as I sat beside Damon on one of the couches right across from where Aurora, Jeremy, and Elena were sitting, "Not that I'm complaining or anything but we know Bonnie put the veil back up. And you're miraculously still here."

"It was Bonnie actually." Jeremy replied simply though I could tell something was wrong because he almost sounded…sad when he said it, but given the faces of everyone else in the room I guessed that I was just reading into things. "She did some kind of spell before she put the veil back up. She would have come here to explain it to you herself but it must have taken a lot out of her cause she seemed pretty exhausted. She just decided to go home instead."

"I hope she's okay." Elena said worriedly and I had to say I didn't blame her, putting the veil up was one thing but bringing someone back to life was something completely different? Even if Bonnie had the power to both it definitely couldn't have been easy on her.

"I'm sure Witchy's fine." Damon said, earning a glare from Jeremy and Elena for the nickname, "She's been through a lot worse."

"I've gotta agree with Damon on this one." Aurora added with a shrug, "Bonnie's a lot stronger than before. Say what you will about Shane but he did open Bonnie up to some pretty powerful magic. I think she's gonna be alright."

The look on Jeremy's face told me otherwise but before I could call him out I felt my throat go dry and began coughing. Seeing as everyone in the room had seen me coughing the same way earlier when I was infected with werewolf venom, it didn't surprise me when they started freaking out and asking if I was okay but I just waved them off, telling them I just need a glass of water when I stopped coughing long enough to choke out the sentence. I got to my feet, well aware of the four pairs of eyes on me, and made it all of five steps before the coughs were cut off. I had about a fourth of a second of relief before my throat went tight and found I found it impossible to breathe. I heard Damon call out my name as I stopped dead in my tracks. He was at my side in an instant when I didn't respond, trying to find out what the hell was going on with me. I brought a hand up to my throat, staring at Damon wide eyed before dropping to my knees, trying unsuccessfully to get any air into my lungs. As Elena, Jeremy, and Aurora made their way over to where Damon and I were I felt myself getting light headed, black spots clouding my vision. Fortunately enough for me, just before I passed out, whatever had been blocking my airway disappeared and I was able to take a deep breath, followed by a few more coughs that quickly dissipated. As soon as I was able to breathe semi-normally, Damon took my face in his hands as he looked me over.

"What… the …hell…?" I questioned breathlessly

"That's what I was just about to ask." Damon replied, removing his hands and helping me to my feet, wrapping an arm around my waist to keep me stable since I was still a little shaky, "What was that?"

"I don't know. All of a sudden I just couldn't breathe. It was like I was suffocating or something." I said before groaning and running a hand through my hair, "I swear today is just one sucky thing after another when it comes to me."

"Are you sure it wasn't a panic attack?" Elena asked from next to Jeremy

"I think I know the difference between a panic attack and suffocation, Elena." I snapped but ,seeing the look on Elena's face, quickly composed myself, "I'm sorry. It's just been a very long day. Um, I think I'm gonna call it quits for tonight guys." I didn't wait for a response before moving out of Damon's hold and moving toward the stairs. As I headed to the room I could help but feel like whatever had just happened was going to be another thing that ended up coming back and biting me in the ass.

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><p>A few weeks had passed since the mess of graduation day and everything seemed to be getting back to normal. No near death experiences, no more mysterious suffocation, no more evil masterminds. Nothing. Not even Katherine had reappeared after she had been turned human. But don't get me wrong, I definitely wasn't complaining. Now I could spend as much time with my family and friends before everyone headed to college, not that I was going or had told Caroline I wasn't going along with her college fantasy yet. Although Bonnie and Matt had both disappeared after graduation to explore the world. Matty had run off with Rebekah, I was doing my best not to judge, and last I heard they were somewhere in Italy. Bonnie was apparently with her mom but I found it strange that she had left without so much as a goodbye. Either way I was happy that my friends got out of the small town for some much needed fun after our stress filled year. I, on the other hand, was fine lounging around the house much like I was currently doing with Elena, Caroline, and Aurora. Aurora and Jace were leaving in just over a week so we had decided to have a Marvel movie marathon since they were Aurora's, and my, favorite movies.<p>

"Okay, who's hotter: Captain America or Thor?" I questioned my friends, putting in The Avengers after we had finished The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Thor and the first two Iron Man movies.

"Thor." Caroline and Aurora said without so much as a second thought

"Captain America." Elena answered from where she was lying across one of the couches

"Of course you would like Captain America, Elena." Caroline said with a smile as the movie began, "The whole old school sweet heart is sorta your thing. Speaking of which, have you heard from Stefan lately?"

"Caroline!" I snapped, throwing a pillow at her for bringing it up. I guess I should explain that too. See, Matty and Bonnie weren't the only ones that left after graduation, but in Stefan's case he had just dropped off the face of the Earth. No phone calls, texts, or emails. He had just left after getting rid of Silas and no one had heard from him since.

"What?" Care asked, feigning innocence as she threw my pillow back at me, "It's an innocent question

"Uh, no." Elena replied, looking down at her entwined fingers, "I've left him a bunch of messages but he hasn't called back or anything."

"Okay, new rule." Aurora spoke up, noticing how uncomfortable Elena looked at the mention of the subject, "No boy talk unless it is about the movie."

"I'm down." I said, Elena and Caroline nodding in agreement as we focused our attention back to the movie in time for Loki to appear on screen.

"Loki or Thor?" Aurora asked offhandedly, grabbing a few pieces of popcorn from the bowl in between us

"Thor." Caroline and Elena said as if it was the most obvious choice in the world

"Loki." I answered with a smirk earning confused looks from Caroline and Elena, "What? His sass is clearly the best part of any of the movies he's in. Thor one day wishes to have the same sass as him."

"Good point." Aurora mused before a smirk formed on her lips, "Okay, Loki or Tony Stark?"

"How could you ask me something like that?" I questioned in horror, tearing my eyes of the screen to stare at my best friend, causing her smirk to grow. "You are a cruel, cruel person."

"It's not that hard of a question. Just pick one." Elena said and I immediately grabbed the DVD player remote and paused the movie.

"Oh God, now look what you've done." Caroline mumbled with a small smile, moving to get a better view of my freak out.

"Just pick one? Just pick one? They are the two best characters of the entire franchise. Smart, handsome, misunderstood by everyone especially those closest to them. Not to mention the massive amount of sass that comes from them. They are both equally amazing, how could I possible choose one over the other?"

"I see you've thought a lot about this." Elena said with an amused smile

"They're her favorite characters." Aurora told Caroline and Elena

"Someone is clearly a closet nerd." Caroline added in a sing song voice

"I have no regrets." I said, earning a few laughs from my friends as I flopped back down on the couch next to Aurora and started up the movie again, "Nor am I ashamed of my inner nerd. Embrace the inner nerd, Caroline, embrace it."

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><p>Elena and Caroline had passed out on the couch they were sharing about an hour later, leaving Aurora and I alone to finish the movie.<p>

"Aurora?" I started as I turned to face my friend

"What's up?" she replied, her eyes still glued on the movie

"I'm gonna miss you." I told her and she finally looked my way, "You know we've been friends for years and now you're heading back home to college and I'm barely gonna see you. Everything's gonna change, man."

"Audrey no matter what happens we will always be friends. We are kinda immortal remember. So what if I go to college for a few years, we have all the time in the world. Plus well Skype and text all the time. Nothing's gonna change." Aurora said and I nodded as I sat back in the couch, "Plus, I'm sure with Damon keeping you busy you won't even realize I'm gone." she added, wagging her eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh my God." I laughed, shoving her playfully, "He is still here and he can probably hear you. And I will most definitely miss you."

"And I'll miss you too." Aurora smiled, "I mean, what am I going to do with myself if there aren't any evil guys trying to kill everyone? Life's gonna be boring without you. At least we have one last hurrah together when you come up north with me and Jace."

"Ugh. Do I have to?" I groaned, I really was beginning to regret agreeing to that a few weeks earlier. The last place I wanted to be right now was back in Minnesota

"Yep. You've been putting it off long enough, you can not avoid it forever." Aurora told me forcefully, knowing that I could very easily avoid it forever but making it clear that she wasn't going to allow it. "Plus it will be good for you."

"Oh yeah, visiting my old house with all the memories of my dead parents. It'll be a blast." I said sardonically before sighing in defeat, "But I guess you're right, I can't avoid it forever. Guess I better start packing." Aurora shot a small smile my way before we both turned back to watched the end of the movie, a feeling of dread coming over me once again at the thought of returning back home.

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><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

And thus ends the first chapter of Forever and Always. So I decided to start the story off with a few low key summer chapter before I jumped into the action packed season because I didn't just want to skip the entire summer and come back with everything being all unicorns and sunshine. Anyway, I thought that I might as well put this chapter up today since the big 100th episode is on tonight and because my school got a snow day due to -40 degree windchill so yeah, be happy for the crazy northern winters! Anyway, let me know what you thought of the chapter. Until next time...

Audrey;D


	2. July

_**Disclaimer-I do not own the Vampire Diaries. Only the people and stuff you don't recognize.**_

**Chapter Two-July**

**Audrey's P.O.V**

"You don't have to go with me, you know." I said to Damon, sitting on the edge of the bed next to Damon's opened suitcase, "Just because I agreed to go with Aurora and Jace doesn't mean that you have to suffer by coming with me."

"What, and stay here with Elena and Jeremy?" Damon questioned, throwing another pair of black jeans into his suitcase, "Not sure if you've noticed but your cousins don't like me and I can only handle so much glaring and awkward silence."

"Okay, so new plan." I started as Damon zipped up his suitcase and set it next to mine by the door, "You come with me but instead of going to Minnesota we go to Europe. I've never been to Italy, we could go there."

"As much as I would love to go to Italy with you, that's not gonna happen today." Damon said and I groaned as he made his way back over to where I was sitting. "And I know what you're trying to do but it's not gonna work, we're going to Minnesota." Damon grabbed a hold of my hand and pulled me to my feet. "It'll be good for you, Audrey. You know, closer and all."

"You and Aurora keep saying that but I'm not buying it." I told him with a scowl before sighing in defeat. "Well, come on, we have a plane to catch." I added, walking around Damon, grabbing my suitcase and heading out of the room.

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><p>I stood by myself outside of the air port, watching as car after car passed to pick up loved ones that were either returning home or visiting. I crossed my arms across my chest, looking down at all the luggage that was surrounding me to make sure that everything was still there. Jace, Aurora, Damon, and I had made it into Minnesota after an extremely boring and uneventful plane ride and a quick trip through customs, thank you compulsion. Shortly after we had touched down, Damon and Jace had gone off to get our rental cars and Aurora had headed back inside the airport without a word, leaving me stuck with all the luggage.<p>

"Audrey!" I heard Aurora call out excitedly just as I was about to call her to find out where she had gone. I turned around and smiled at her when I saw what it was she was carrying that had her so excited.

"Wow." I replied as she stopped next to me, "It's been what, twenty minutes and you've already found a Caribou? That has to be a new record."

"Don't judge me, I haven't had one of their Chai lattes since we left." She said, smiling down at the two travel mugs in her hand before handing one to me, "Just be happy that I got you one too, because I was very close to just claiming this one as my own as well."

"Honestly, only you would order a hot drink when it's like ninety five degrees." I smirked as she started sipping on her drink

"There is never not a time to have a Chai latte." Aurora retorted, taking another sip before adding, "What happened to the guys? I mean, how long does it take to get a rental car?"

Just as I was about to open my mouth I spotted a cherry red Chevy Camaro convertible headed our way followed by a noticeable less conspicuous silver Prius. I peered over my sunglasses as the two cars pulled up next to us and rolled my eyes when I saw Damon step out of the Camaro with a huge smirk plastered on his face.

"Your chariot m'lady." Damon said as he walked up to me, giving me a quick kiss before grabbing our luggage and heading back towards the car.

"Nice. You sure you couldn't have gotten a more conspicuous car?" I questioned him with a smirk of my own, hearing Aurora laugh in response as she started helping Jace move their stuff into the Prius, "I'm not sure this is flashy enough."

"Says the girl that not only has a Camaro just like this at home, but also a 1967 Impala." Damon retorted, grabbing the last of our luggage and putting it in the trunk, "You know you love it."

"Well, you've got me there." I said before taking a sip of the Chai Latte Aurora had given me. I set my drink in one of the cup holders in the Camaro and made my way over to the Prius to help Aurora and Jace stuff what every they had brought into the small car. Luckily they were having most of their things shipped over so it didn't take too long. As Jace threw the last bag in the backseat I headed over to Damon and held out my hand, only to get a look of confusion in return. "Sorry gorgeous, I'm gonna need the keys seeing as you don't know your way around town."

"Fine." Damon sighed, handing over the keys, "I'm more of a fan of the classics anyway."

"So where are we headed?" I questioned Aurora as I made my way to the drivers side door, "Dinkytown?"

"Yep. The lofts." Aurora replied, smiling when she saw the identical looks of confusion on both Jace and Damon's faces

"Perfect, see you there." I told her as Damon and I got in the car, smirking as I put the car into drive and sped off down the road and right into the heart of the city

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><p>It didn't take much time to make our way to the lofts and it took even less time to get all of Aurora and Jace's luggage stored away into their loft. I set the bag I had been carrying down in the living room before looking around at my friends new digs.<p>

"Compared to a lot of other city apartments, I think you're doing pretty good here." I told Aurora as she walked over to me

"Yeah, well, I sorta compelled the landlord to give us the nicest one." She said sheepishly and I couldn't help but laugh at that

"I'm gonna miss you, Aurora." I smiled, pulling her into a hug after my laughter had died down, "It will not be the same without you."

"I'll miss you too." Aurora replied as we pulled apart, "Try not to get into too much trouble without me."

"I make no promises, I'll be in Mystic Falls and that place is a trouble magnet." I told her before turning to Jace who had just come out of the bedroom, "Mr. Somerhalder, I am afraid it is time for me and Mr. Salvatore to bid you adieu."

"Ah, Miss Darke, our time together was to short but your company will be missed." Jace replied with a small smile before giving me a short hug, "In all seriousness though, we're gonna miss you."

"Ditto, Jace." I said before walking past them and toward where Damon was leaning against the door frame, watching the scene unfold.

"Blondie. Lost Boy." Damon said with a nod to the two, his own goodbye, earning a small wave from Jace and a smile from Aurora in return.

I smiled once more at both of my friends before saying goodbye once more, grabbing Damon's hand in my own as I turned and headed out of their loft, trying my best to hold back tears as I left my best friend behind.

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><p>I was surrounded by darkness. Not just middle of the night darkness where you have the moon and stars lighting the way for you. No, it was pitch black, the kind of darkness where I couldn't even see my hands when they were right in front of my face. I tried to remember how exactly I had ended up here but I only came up blank. The last thing I could recall was that I had been with Damon in our hotel room, after that there was nothing, which actually worried me more than my current situation.<p>

I attempted to walk forward out of the darkness but found that my legs wouldn't move, as if they were numb from all the time that I had spent in... wherever the hell I was. I was suddenly overcome with panic when I felt my air supply cut off, as if the darkness was wrapping around my throat and suffocating me. I began clawing at my throat in an attempt to get rid of whatever was making it impossible to breathe but only succeeded in causing more pain instead of the relief I was hoping for. I heard a familiar voice call my name as I began to get light headed but, due to the crushing weight on my throat, couldn't muster a reply.

"Audrey!" Someone shouted and my eyes snapped open as the pressure was removed from my throat. I was suddenly aware that someone was straddling my hips as they held my hands over my head and I immediately sent them flying off of me, across the room into the nearest wall.

When I came to my senses I turned on the bedside table without so much of glance in its direction and saw that it had been Damon who I had thrown across the room. He stared at me, worry filling his eyes.

"Oh my God, Damon, I'm so sorry." I apologized as I stepped out of bed and looked toward him, "Are you okay?"

"What did you see?" Damon countered, getting to his feet and moving to stand in front of me in an instant. I just stared back at him unsure of what I should tell him that would make up for sending him flying out of bed. Before I could come up with a good enough lie Damon grabbed me by the shoulders and added, "Your vision, Audrey, what did you see?"

"Nothing Damon." I said as I shook my head back and forth, avoiding his eyes

"Don't you dare lie to me right now, Audrey." Damon snapped, causing me to flinch slightly before focusing back on him. He moved his hands from my shoulders to my wrists, forcing me to look down at my hands as see that they were covered in blood. "Especially since I woke up to find you trying to tear out your own throat. So tell me what you saw."

"I'm telling you the truth Damon. I didn't, couldn't, see anything." I told him as I continued to look down at my bloody hands, "It's what I felt what freaked me out. It was the same thing that happened last month. It felt like I was suffocating." I moved out of Damon's hold and ran into the bathroom to wash the blood off of my hands and neck. When I had gotten rid of all the blood, I threw the towel I had been using on the counter and looked up at myself in the mirror, not bothering to look toward the door where Damon was standing as I continued. "I just don't understand why this is happening. It doesn't make any sense. I'm a psychic, I'm supposed to see things but whenever this happens it's physical, It feels like it's happening to me. At the very least I should see something, someone that this is happening to but there's nothing to connect it to."

"Hey." Damon said gently, walking up to me and turning me around to face him before bringing his hand up to cup my cheek, "We'll figure this out just like everything else we've dealt with in the past, okay. You'll be fine."

"Optimism does not suit you, Damon." I frowned as I looked up into his icy blues, sighing before adding, " Just please don't tell Elena or Jeremy about this please. They already have enough to worry about."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Damon replied with a small smile, "Now, how about I order a very early breakfast from room service and we can restart the beginning of our day."

I looked past Damon to see what time it was and saw that it was only six thirty but nodded anyway. There was no way I was going to be able to fall back asleep anyway.

"Sure. I'm just gonna grab a quick shower first." I said with a smile that I was sure didn't reach my eyes before slightly pushing Damon out of the bathroom and shutting the door.

* * *

><p>A few hours after our breakfast and fresh start to the day found Damon and I driving out of the city down familiar suburban streets to a place that made me wanna go through the delightful suffocation I felt ten times in a row rather than be there. I pulled up to the house I hadn't seen in nearly three years, my fingers drumming against the steering wheel as I stared at the empty building.<p>

"You don't have to do this you know." Damon said from his spot, "I think what happened this morning is reason enough to avoid this and just rest up."

"I can't." I sighed as I cut the engine and opened the car door, "We did the whole fresh start thing this morning which means that I have to go about my day like I was going to, no matter how much I would rather not." I stepped out of the car and slammed the door before exchanging the rental car keys to my house keys as Damon got of the car and joined me by the drivers side door.

I took a deep breath as I looked back up at the house and started walking toward the house. I unlocked the door without any problems but hesitated at the threshold for a moment before walking in. I looked around the house warily, noticing that nothing had been moved in the slightest since I had last seen it, which wasn't all that surprising since it had been empty for two of the three years I had been gone. The only noticeable difference was the fine layer of dust the covered almost every surface. I had almost forgotten that Damon was still around until I made my way over to the stairs that led upstairs.

"Do you mind giving me a minute?" I question without turning to face him, instead keeping my eyes focused on the top of the stairs

"Of course. I'll just wait by the car." Damon replied and I waited until I was sure he was gone before heading up the stairs and toward my old room.

I opened the door and slowly walked in, greeted by the sight of my nearly empty room since I had taken most of my stuff with me. There were a few things left around the room but I focused my attention mainly on the pictures that were taped to the mirror that hung over my dresser. I looked over the pictures I had of me and Aurora as well as couple of Jeremy, Elena, and I from the few times they had come up to visit. A small frown made it's way onto my lips when I realized that this was all that I had from my old life, back when ninety nine percent of my family wasn't dead, just a few pictures none of which had my parents in them. I sighed as I carefully took them off of the mirror and held the ten or so pictures in my hands before giving my room a once over and leaving without so much as shutting my door.

I walked the short distance across the hall to where my parents room was and stood there for a minute trying to decide if it was worth it to go in or not. I wrapped my hand around the doorknob when I built up enough courage and pushed the door open. I walked in and was surprised to see a shoe box perched on top of my parents bed. I cautiously walked over to it and saw an envelope with my name written on it in my mother's handwriting. I picked it up, blowing off some dust, before opening up the envelope and reading the letter than had been inside.

_Dear Audrey,_

_If you're reading this then it's safe to assume that I never made it back from Mystic Falls. Given what John has told me about what has been going on between you, Elena, and the sun and moon curse then I wouldn't be too surprised. I just want to tell you how sorry I am for doing this to you. Leaving you so soon after your father died, it's not right. But I'm doing what I have to do to keep you safe, even if that means dying to do it. I know how hard it must be to hear this honey but I would rather leave you with this letter than nothing at all. I just want to remind you that you are a strong and beautiful young woman that I am proud to call my daughter._

_Love, Mom_

I wiped away the few stray tears that had fallen as I set my mom's letter beside the shoe box with the pictures I had taken from my room. I gingerly removed the lid of the box, staring down at its contents in awe. It was filled to the brim of old photos that had been taken, ranging from the few days after I had been born to the days right before I had left for Mystic Falls. I guess my mom had wanted to make sure that I never forgot the happier moments in my life and for that I was extremely grateful. For the first time since I had arrived in Minnesota I felt a genuine smile make its way onto my lips as I looked down at the almost forgotten memories that my parents had been able to catch on camera. After a few minutes I set the letter and extra pictures in the small box, picking it up before I headed out of the room, making sure to shut the door behind me this time. I carefully balanced the box on one hand as I headed down the stairs and to the front door, grabbing the house keys out of my pocket. I closed and locked the door before turning around and sending a smile toward Damon as I walked up to where he was leaning against the passenger side door of the Camaro.

"So?" Damon question me, taking in the box in my hands and the smile on my lips

"So, maybe closure wasn't as bad of a thing as I have been making it out to be." I replied with a shrug as I set my stuff in the back seat, "I guess it is what normal people do after they lose someone close to them."

"Yeah, but when have you ever been normal?" Damon asked with a smirk as I walked over to the driver's side door

"I like to think I have my moments." I smiled back as I opened up the door, "Now come on, let's get the hell back to Mystic Falls because I am in desperate need to get back home." Damon nodded before we both got into the car and drove back toward the city, going as fast as possible so I could get back to my family where I belonged.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

I am so sorry for the long wait between chapters guys. I promise that there won't be nearly as much time in between this and the next chapter. I would also like to apologize for how short the chapter is but I promise that they will get longer. Okay, now that all the apologies are out of the way, leave me a review and tell me what you think. The last summer chapter is up next then we get back into the swing of all the Mystic Falls craziness. I can't wait. Until next time...

Audrey;D


	3. August

**Chapter Three-August**

**Audrey's P.O.V**

In the month that followed the trip to Minnesota, life was relatively normal, which I guess in Mystic Falls is in itself weird but honestly I wasn't complaining. Elena and Caroline had been frantically getting ready for college since the new year started in just a few weeks, while I played along with their excitement since I still hadn't built up the nerve to tell either of them that I had no intention of actually going with them. I kept telling myself that I would fess up but I kept chickening out at the last minute. Sure I could handle psychopathic immortals that wanted to kill everyone in Mystic Falls but that was child's play compared to the fit I was sure Caroline would throw when I finally fessed up.

When I wasn't with Caroline and Elena, I was working on helping Jeremy readjust to being alive and getting ready for his senior year of high school, the latter of which had been Elena's idea. While I didn't agree one hundred percent with Elena on sending Jer back to school I decided to at least try it her way first.

While both my cousins were worried about school for their own reasons, I was just happy that I hadn't nearly suffocated again since the beginning of July. I was still wary of the fact that I had no idea what was happening or why but I couldn't really complain so long as it didn't happen again. Really, it's the little things that make me happy in life.

At the moment though, I was laying in bed, trying to force my self out of bed in a still half asleep haze. I rolled over to lay my head on Damon's chest to find that I was the only one in bed. I sat up and looked around the room and was confused when I didn't find Damon anywhere. Usually I was the first one up in the morning and seeing as it was only seven, his absence was definitely odd. I listened intently for the sound of anyone moving around the boarding house but it seemed like I was the only one awake in the house which led me to believe that Damon had gone out. Strange? Maybe. Something I should worry about? Most likely not. He was probably out grabbing breakfast or blood bags or something like that. I shrugged it off for a moment as I got out of bed, deciding that I might as well take a shower since I was already up.

* * *

><p>Neither Jeremy or Elena had woken up in the time that I had gotten ready and Damon still hadn't returned so I settled down in the living room to watch some Teen Wolf while I had some peace and quiet. My peace and quite only lasted about an hour before I heard footsteps making their way toward me.<p>

"What are you watching?" A pajama clad Jeremy asked as he took a seat next to me on the couch.

"Teen Wolf." I replied, not bothering to take my eyes off the screen as Lydia and Allison were taking about the creepy ass motel they were stuck in.

"Really?" Jeremy groaned, "What? You don't get enough of the supernatural in real life?"

"Hey, this is a kick ass show, Jer. Great characters and story line, supernatural or not." I said turning to my younger cousin in time to see him roll his eyes at my response

"So, where's your boyfriend this morning?" Jeremy questioned, changing the subject before I could say anything about the eye roll. "You and Damon have practically been joined at the hip all summer. What's changed?"

"Nothing's changed. And for your information we have not been 'joined at the hip' all summer." I replied with an eye roll of my own.

"Uh yes, you have. It's sickening." Jeremy said, "But you didn't answer my question."

"Can't tell you where he is if I don't know." I said, turning back to the television, trying to act nonchalant when in all actuality I did find it really weird that Damon had just disappeared without a word.

"What, he didn't tell you?" Jer asked in disbelief

"That would be correct." I told him, taking out my phone to see if maybe he had texted me only to find that I had no new messages, "He was already gone when I woke up this morning, I figured he would be back by now. I should probably call him."

"You do that, I'm gonna go get dressed so I don't have to watch whatever it is you're watching." Jer said as he got to his feet and headed back in the direction of his room

"Teen Wolf." I called after him ignoring the 'whatever' he shot back as I dialed Damon's number.

"Good morning, Audrey." Damon greeted when he answered the phone

"Good morning to you too." I replied, hearing the sound of Damon's Camaro in the background. "Where are you?"

"Somewhere in North Carolina at the moment." Damon answered plainly, as if him being in North Carolina was a normal thing

"Okay, why the hell are you in North Carolina?" I asked, trying to think of any reason Damon would need to be in North Carolina this early in the morning

"Well, since Silas emptied out half a dozen hospitals supply of blood, every other hospital in Virginia has been on high alert. Meaning I have to go outta state to get more blood bags, ergo North Carolina."

"You know, you could have told me about all of this before you left." I said, "A little warning would have been nice."

"What? And deal with you yelling at me because I woke you up?" Damon questioned and I swear I could hear him smirking through the phone, "No thanks."

"I do not yell at you when you wake me up." I replied, pausing Teen Wolf and getting up to head into the kitchen and make some coffee

"Yes you do." Damon retorted, "You yell and you're mean and little scary."

"Glad to know my boyfriend is so fearless." I said sardonically as I started up the coffee maker, "Who knew that a reformed serial killer could be afraid of a teenage girl."

"Hey, I know my limits and confronting a pissed of psychic is way past that." Damon joked and I chuckled as I set the phone down on the counter, putting it on speaker before heading over to the cupboard to grab a mug. "Look, I gotta go but I should be home by tomorrow morning. But if anything weird happens give me a call."

"Sure thing." I agreed as I moved back toward my phone, "Just don't do anything stupid while you're gone please."

"No promises." Damon said before hanging up, causing me to roll my eyes again as I put my phone back in my pocket.

Well, if Damon was gonna be gone until tomorrow, then I guess it would be a perfect time for some family bonding since it was clear that I had been spending way more time with Damon than I thought. And today was probably as good as any to finally fess up to Caroline and Elena. It sure was going to be an interesting day.

* * *

><p>A couple of hours later I found myself sitting in the study alone, reading an old copy of the Great Gatsby. Family bonding had been a bit of a bust since Elena had headed out with Caroline to do more college stuff as soon as she had woken up and Jeremy had locked himself in his room. As I was getting to the part where Nick meets Gatsby, something coming from upstairs caught my attention.<p>

"I can't keep this from them forever you know." Jeremy's voice rang out, causing me to set my book to side, my curiosity getting the better of me, "They're gonna find out eventually."

"I know, Jeremy, but it's better this way." At the sound of Bonnie's voice I stood up and vamp ran to Jeremy's room. I hadn't heard her voice since graduation seeing as I had only gotten texts and emails from her for the last two months, so I jumped at the opportunity to actually talk to her, but I paused at Jeremy's door when I heard what she said next. "They've been having such a great summer, I just don't want to ruin the rest of it for them."

"They deserve to know, Bon." Silence followed Jeremy's ominous statement so I decided to make my presence know by knocking on the door. I heard Jeremy scramble around for a few moments before he managed to open the door, looking rather flustered might I add. "Uh, hey Audrey. What's up?"

"Was that Bonnie?" I questioned, already knowing the answer

"Huh?" Jeremy asked, his eyes widening slightly before he seemed to calm down and compose himself, "Bonnie's not here."

"Obviously." I said with a laugh, though I had to admit Jeremy was acting a bit weird for such a simple question. A bit shady actually. "I meant on the phone. Were you just talking to Bonnie on the phone?"

"Uh…yeah. Her and her mom just stopped at Yellowstone and she was giving me a quick call to see what was going on." Jeremy told me with a nod, sounding convincing but there was something off about what he was saying that I couldn't quite figure out. "How did you here that anyway? Eavesdropping now?"

"More like vampire hearing that doesn't have an off switch." I corrected, crossing my arms across my chest before asking, "So what exactly are you and Bonnie hiding?"

I watched as Jeremy ran a hand through his hair, clearly trying to decide whether or not to tell me what Bonnie was trying to keep from everybody.

"Abby wanted to extend her and Bonnie's trip around the country so she might not be able to make it back in time for the first few weeks of school." Jeremy explained after a minute

"She thought that would ruin our summer?" I questioned in disbelief

"Well, Elena and Caroline have been going crazy with all the college planning and you guys were so excited to do the whole quadruple room thing. She didn't want to ruin any of that stuff for you guys."

"Well, I wish I would have know about this earlier because I could of told her she has nothing to worry about." I said but continued when I saw the confusion written on Jeremy's face, "I've been trying to break it to Caroline and Elena that I'm not going with them to college for months. Bonnie and I could've told them together that way they're more pissed off at me."

"Good plan but I think Bonnie's waiting for the right moment to tell them. Which means you can't say anything to them." Jeremy told me

"My lips are sealed as long as you tell Bonnie to call me next time that you talk to her. " I told him as I heard the sound of a car coming toward the Boarding House, "Sounds like Care and Elena are back so I guess it's time to grow up and tell them the truth. Pave the way for Bonnie when she decided to tell them and all. Wish me luck."

"Good luck." Jeremy replied with a laugh, heading back into his room as I turned and headed back to the stairs to meet my fate. Okay, so maybe I was being a bit dramatic but my overreaction would pale in comparison to the drama I was going to get from Caroline.

When I got to the bottom of the stairs, the door swung open and in came Caroline and Elena, already in full on college planning mode.

"Audrey!" Caroline called out as I walked into the parlor, hoping to get a drink before I had to deal with the headache that was headed my way. I had just enough time to sit down on the nearest arm chair before Elena and Caroline made their way into the room. "Oh my God, Audrey. We visited Whitmore today to check out the dorms and found the perfect room for us. I mean, it was designed to be a triple since they don't actually have quadruple rooms there but I managed to compel them into making one for us. All it's gonna take is moving another bed in and we'll be set. Moving days in three weeks by the way so you better make sure you have everything ready. Elena and I already got our schedules all set so we just have to wait for you and Bonnie to do yours. We're going back next week so you should have plenty of time to plan out your classes or lack there of, we are working on having the most laid back, party filled freshman year ever so that should make things easier. You should definitely join Elena and I in Biology so we can all share a class. That would be so much fun. Ooh, I could organize a study group..."

"CAROLINE!" I snapped, cutting off my blonde friend's rant seeing as she had been going strong for about three minutes without any sign of stopping

"What?" She questioned, looking from me to Elena where she had taken a seat on the couch across from me during Care's speech

"I'm not going to Whitmore." I told her before I downed the rest of my drink

"No, no, no. Of course you're going to Whitmore. We all agreed that it was the best place to go because it's only a few hours away." Caroline said, her voice rising and octave in panic that her whole plan was falling apart.

"No Caroline, you don't get it. I'm not going to college at all." I tried again seeing as Care didn't seem to get what I was saying.

"Please tell me you're joking." Elena spoke up from her spot on the couch

"Of course she's joking, Elena." Caroline answered for me while I got up from the couch, deciding it was time for another drink. "She has to be joking because she's been helping us for the last month get ready for everything."

"Hate to break it to you like this Care, but I'm not joking." I corrected my friend, quickly continuing when she opened her mouth to say something else, "Care, just give me a second to explain before you rip me a new one please." I waited until she closed her mouth and took a seat next to Elena. "Look, I get how important the whole college experience is to the both of you, but you have to understand that it's not the same for me. I've barely been able to go to school for the last two years without some sort of near death experience. The last thing I wanna do is start that cycle again."

"This year is gonna be different, Audrey." Caroline countered, slightly less agitated then she was before

"You said the same thing about senior year, Caroline." I reminded her, watching her face fall in response, "If anything you saying that jinxes it." I took a minute to pour myself another glass of bourbon before I sat back in my chair. "Guys, I just want a break okay. College is not the thing for me right now. I'll make sure to visit and crash a few parties but I can't make that big of a commitment when I know it's not gonna work out."

I sat back in my seat when I finished my spiel, waiting for a response from Elena and Caroline. They both shared a look before turning to face me again.

"Okay." Elena said as Caroline nodded in agreement

"Really?" I asked, my eyes widening in surprise

"Yeah." Caroline relied, "Sure we might be a little upset that you won't go with us but it's not like we can force you to go. It is your choice after all."

"Thanks." I smiled before taking a sip of my drink, "So now that that's all out of the way would you like to continue fill me in on your college escapades?"

I sat and listened in amusement as both Elena and Caroline told me about everything they were planning for freshman year. I was happy that they seemed excited for the year to come and could only hope that nothing ruined it for them.

* * *

><p>A little while after Caroline had left, I found myself in the basement grabbing a blood bag. It was a good thing that Damon had gone to get more because there was no way what we had left was gonna last the week. I walked back upstairs after I grabbed one, heading to the parlor to grab a glass.<p>

"Audrey." Elena called out, nearly causing me to drop my blood bag as she came up behind me

"Geez, Elena, give me a warning next time." I said with a smile as I turned to face my cousin

"Sorry." Elena said solemnly. I wondered what had gotten into her since she had been Caroline level chipper only a few hours before. "Um, I was wondering if you could do something for me?"

"Yeah, sure." I said as I continued toward the parlor with Elena in tow, "What do you need?"

"I've been trying to get a hold of Stefan since the day after graduation." Elena answered as we walked I to the parlor. Well, that definitely explained her mood. She had been acting like this anytime someone brought Stefan into the conversation. Not that it surprised me, the two of them loved each other even after everything that had happened between them and she was devastated that he left without so much as a goodbye. I poured Elena and I both a glass of blood, handing her one as we took a seat on the couch. "I've texted, emailed, and called him but he hasn't replied to anything. I'm starting to worry that something happened to him."

She certainly had a reason to worry, it wasn't like Stefan to just up and leave and even less like him to not call anyone back. I had just assumed that he was in need of a break like I was but just went to the extreme with it but I had to admit that something did seem off.

"So where do I come into all of this?" I questioned her, watching as she looked down at her glass of blood seeming a bit ashamed of what she was about to ask me. "Elena, just spit it out."

"I want you to look for him, try to force a vision or something to make sure that he's okay." Elena blurted out and I looked at her wide eyed in shock for a moment , "I know it's weird and creepy but I just have this feeling that something is wrong and that he needs our help."

"Elena, there is no guarantee that this will work." I replied, "Just because I go looking doesn't mean I'm gonna find him."

"I know that, Audrey." Elena said calmly, "But it's worth a shot. I just need to know that he's okay."

"Fine." I replied with a sigh, setting my drink aside for the moment

I sat back in my seat next to Elena, closing my eyes as I focused my thoughts on Stefan. Nothing happened for after about then minutes so I sighed, opening my eyes to break the news Elena but was only met with darkness. My breathing picked up speed, panic setting in as I closed and opened my eyes again only to be greeted by black. I got to my feet in a fraction of a second trying to get the safety of my own room before the next part of this nightmare set in but I felt someone grab my arm before I could make my escape.

"Audrey, what is it?" Elena asked, worry still clear even though I couldn't see her

"I can't see anything." I said slowly, trying to calm myself down, not that it helped at all

"Like, you can't see Stefan?" Elena questioned as I heard her get to her feet, her hand never leaving my arm

"No, Elena. I can't see anything." I repeated, "Nothing, not even you."

Before Elena even had a chance to let that sink in, I felt an all too familiar feeling set in half a second before my air supply was cut off. I heard Elena call out my name as I tried, in vain, to breathe. I fell to my knees nearly a minute later, too light headed to stand. Just as I was sure I was about to pass out, my sight returned and I was able to breathe again. I sucked in a deep breath that was immediately followed by a round of coughs as I leaned against the couch.

"Audrey." Elena said and I looked up to see not only Elena but Jeremy as well. He must have gotten here at some point during my episode. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." I lied with a weak nod, trying to get to my feet only to be held down by Jeremy and Elena

"That was the same thing that happened the night of graduation wasn't it?" Jeremy asked and apparently the look I gave him was enough of an answer for him since he added, "Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Guys, I'm fine, okay." I told them as I waved them off so I could stand up. Sure it was just another lie but I didn't want to worry them any more than I had already. "I'm just gonna go lay down and everything will be fine tomorrow." I grabbed my glass of the table and pushed past Elena and Jeremy, not missing the look they shared but ignoring it because I was too exhausted to deal with it at the moment. I finished my glass of blood as I walked into mine and Damon's room, setting the glass on the bedside table. Closing the door telekinetically before removing my shorts and jumping into bed, hoping to get some rest and avoid any questions from Jeremy and Elena for as long as possible.

* * *

><p>I was woken up later that night by the bed moving under me. I opened my eyes slowly and was met with a pair of icy blues staring back at me.<p>

"Thought you weren't getting back until morning." I said sleepily, readjusting so I was laying on my side, facing Damon

"Well that was the plan until I got a frantic call from Elena saying that you suffered from another mysterious suffocation." Damon explained, looking me over as if to see if I had tried to claw my throat again, "Then I thought that she couldn't possibly be telling me the truth because you would have called me if anything weird had happened."

I propped myself up onto my elbow, grimacing as I said, "I was gonna tell you when you got back."

"I'm sure you would have." Damon said with a surprisingly small amount of sarcasm, his expression softening as he wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him. I rested my head on his chest as he continued, "How are you feeling."

"Fine." I sighed but I didn't even need to look at Damon's face to know he didn't believe me, "Okay, not so fine. But I'm doing my best until we can figure out what the hell is going on with me."

"I'm just worried about you." Damon said, running a hand through my hair, "You know that's what a normal boyfriend would do."

"Yeah, because we're a completely normal couple." I said sardonically before lifting my head to look up at Damon again, "But you worrying is so adorable." I smiled before leaning down and bring my lips to his in a quick kiss. "Look, can we finish this later cause I'm still beat. Suffocation takes a lot out of a girl."

"Not funny." Damon frowned as I moved back to set my head on his chest

"Yeah, I'm not laughing." I said through a yawn. I closed my eyes as I felt Damon rub soothing circles on my hip with his thumb. I did my best to block out any thoughts of my mysterious suffocation aside and fell asleep within minutes.

* * *

><p><strong><span>Author's Note<span>**

**Well, that's the end of the semi calm summer chapters. Up next we have the return of Silas and Kitty Kat so yeah for that. Remember, reviews mean faster updates cause if I know you like what I'm writing I will actually have motivation to write. So leave me a review on the way out if you're feeling generous. Hope you enjoyed guys! Until next time...**

**Audrey;D**


	4. I Know What You Did Last Summer

_Disclaimer:I don't own the Vampire Diaries_

**Chapter Four-I Know What You Did Last Summer**

**Audrey's P.O.V**

The last two weeks of summer had flown by in a blur of last minute preparations for school. Luckily enough for me, since Elena and Jeremy were so busy I was able to get them off my case about my latest episode. Not that it was easy but never the less it was doable. While I had been lucky enough in that respect, I had somehow been roped into getting up at some ungodly hour to help with last minute stuff and bid farewell to Elena. I was sitting in the living room at the boarding house with Jeremy and Elena making sure that Jeremy's 'surprise, I'm not dead' speech was perfect before Elena had to run off to Whitmore college.

"There were issues at home. Ever since I lost my parents, my aunt, I've been acting out... drugs, drinking. I was looking for attention, so I lit my house on fire and faked my own death." Jeremy repeated for the umpteenth time that morning alone as I sat next to him, trying my best not to fall asleep.

"Really stress the drug thing." Elena offered with a nod of approval, "And I'd definitely say that the fire was an accident, because there's crazy, and then there's…"

"Me." I finished for Elena, smiling at the glare she sent my way, "Or Damon. Take your pick."

"Or I could just not go back, considering my school already had a memorial for me." Jeremy suggested earning a groan of frustration from Elena

Luckily for Jeremy, the sound of Caroline's car horn honking drifted through the room from outside. Elena shot up and nervously gave her luggage a once over before turning back to face Jeremy and I.

"I can't leave. I should stay and at least wait until you settle in." Elena said to Jeremy, then turning to me, "Or until we figure out what's going on with you-"

"Nope." I cut Elena off, standing up and resting my hands on her shoulders reassuringly, "You're most definitely leaving. You are going to go to college and drink cheap beer, go to amazing parties, and more than likely protest things you don't even care about. Jeremy and I will be fine. Trust me, you have nothing to worry about."

"Okay." Elena said with a sigh and I gave her a smile before removing my hands and taking a step back, "And at least Whitmore is only a couple of hours away so if you need anything you guys can just call-"

"Hey, we'll see you on laundry day." Jeremy said, taking his turn to cut her off with a hug before she could talk herself into staying

Jeremy pulled back and I quickly took his place, wrapping my arms around Elena in a tight hug, only pulling away when Caroline honked again.

"Okay, you better hurry before Caroline comes in here and gets you." I joked as she picked up her luggage and headed to the door. Elena managed to make it all the way to the door before pausing and turning around to say something but I made sure speak up before she had a chance to say anything else. "Just go Elena. We'll be fine."

"I'm going." Elena said, opening the door and taking a step out, "Bye."

"Bye." Jeremy and I replied in unison as she closed the door and I waited until I heard the sound of Caroline's car driving off until fell back onto the couch. "Your turn Jeremy. Go get ready for school, you've got half an hour until first period starts and you're still in your pajamas."

"So are you." Jeremy retorted, folding his arms across his chest.

I looked down and my red and black checkered pajama shorts and black tank top before shrugging. "Yeah, well I don't have to go to school so your argument is invalid." I countered, resting my head on the back of the couch and closing my eyes, waiting for Jeremy to walk away. After a few seconds I hadn't heard Jeremy make any move to head to his room so I opened my eyes only to find him frowning at me.

"I don't see why I have to go in the first place." Jeremy said

"Because, after everything that's happened, Elena and I just want you to live like a normal teenager. And that means going to school. I know there is nothing normal about our situation but you're just gonna have to suck it up." I explained to him, waiting for him to go get ready but he still didn't move a muscle. I sighed before adding, "Look, if it helps move this along, you can drive my Camaro."

"Seriously?" Jeremy questioned, perking up at just the thought of driving my car

"Yes, but that means your ass is on its way out the door in twenty minutes so you better hurry up." I told him before closing my eyes again, smiling when I heard Jeremy rushing off towards his room. When I was alone I realized just how tired I was. I planned on heading back up to bed where Damon was still asleep but I was too exhausted to move. I slowly began to drift off and within in a few minutes was fast asleep.

* * *

><p>I woke up to sunlight beating down on me, instinctually rolling over to avoid it only to realize that I should have rolled right off of the couch I had fallen asleep on. I sat up and looked around mine and Damon's room in confusion; not sure of how I had gotten here or how long I had been asleep. I heard movement coming from the bathroom and turned in time to see Damon walk out wearing a pair of black jeans and drying his hair, he had most likely just gotten out of the shower.<p>

"She awakens." Damon said with a smirk, throwing the towel over his shoulder as he headed over to the closet, "I was afraid you had slipped into a coma or something."

"Shut up." I said, tossing a pillow at him which he easily avoided. I pushed back the covers and got to my feet, checking the time on my phone and seeing that it was a little after noon. I guess I had slept in a bit late. "I assume you're the one that brought me up here."

"Yep." Damon replied, putting the towel in the hamper and grabbing a blue-grey button up and putting it on. "I thought you would be more comfortable up here."

"That was sweet of you." I smiled, walking up to him as he buttoned up his shirt. "What exactly do you think you're doing?"

Damon's face clouded with confusion as he finished buttoning up his shirt. "Uh, getting dressed."

"Well, that seems like a waste of time." I said with a smirk, crossing my arms across my chest as Damon's buttons began to undo themselves. "We are alone for the first time in almost a month and Jeremy's gonna be back in a few hours. I'm not sure about you but have an idea of how to pass the time and it certainly doesn't involve you wearing anything."

By the time I had finished speaking Damon's shirt was completely undone, revealing his toned chest. The confusion had disappeared only to be replaced by a smirk identical to mine.

"I like the way you think." Damon said, my arms falling to my side when he brought his lips to mine.

As our lips moved in sync, I made quick work on removing Damon's shirt, throwing to the side before I wove my hands through his hair. I pulled slightly and Damon growled in response, sending a shiver up my spine. Damon pulled back, his hands moving to the bottom of my cami and pulled it over my head so fast that I was afraid he was going to rip it. We stumbled backwards toward the bed and I smiled when I fell onto the mattress, Damon hovering over me with a devilish smirk plastered on his face. Damon moved to planting slow kisses down my neck and collar bone as I got rid of his jeans, leaving him in just his boxers. Damon kissed up and down my chest and stomach, my back arching every time his lips met my skin. I felt his hands make their way down my sides, stopping for a fraction of a second when they reaches the top of my shorts before ripping them off. I took Damon's face in my hands and brought his lips back to mine again. It was then that my phone began to ring, both of us groaning in annoyance.

"Maybe if we ignore it, they'll stop." I said hopefully

"We are never that lucky." Damon frowned as my phone continued to buzz.

Damon began to pull away but I quickly flipped us over and positioned myself so I was straddling his hips. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To get us something to drink while you answer your phone." Damon stated as my phone stopped ringing only to start back up again two seconds later. I huffed in annoyance before moving off of Damon and flopping down onto the bed next to him. I grabbed my phone from the side table as Damon got out of bed and headed out of the room. I glared down at the caller I.D. for a second before answering.

"This better be important, Elena." I snapped at my cousin

"Audrey, we have a problem." Elena said in frustration, causing me to sit up in worry, only for that worry to disappear with her next sentence, "This girl just barged into mine and Caroline's dorm claiming to be our roommate."

"You've got to be kidding me." I groaned, "That's why you called?"

"Yes, Audrey, there must've been a mix-up in the housing office or something." Elena explained.

"Here's a thought, compel her the hell out." I suggested, running a hand through my hair, "Compulsion does happen to be a perk we have as vampires."

"But what's the point in going to college if we're just going to recreate what happens in Mystic Falls?"

"Okay, then go for the old college try approach and deal with having a mysterious roommate." I told her, trying to speed up the conversation, "Is that all?"

"Did Jeremy get to school okay?" Elena asked

"Yep, although I did have to bribe him with my car." I replied, earning a laugh

"So what you're saying is that me being here could actually work?" She questioned

"Exactly Elena, I can take care of everything here, you just worry about college." I assured my cousin, leaning against the headboard, "Look, Elena, I gotta go. I was sorta in the middle of something. Tell Care I say hi."

"Oh, okay. I'll talk to you later." Elena replied before ending the call

I hung up the phone and set it back on the table. I noticed that Damon had yet to return with our drinks which was weird since it took less than a minute to get to a source of alcohol in this place. I sighed before getting out of bed and grabbing Damon's discarded shirt off of the ground, only bothering to button the bottom few buttons as I walked out of the room. I walked down the stairs and towards the parlor, picking up the end of a conversation.

"And wouldn't that be tragic." Damon said, the sarcasm clear from where I was

"Damon, who are you talking to?" I questioned as I stepped into the parlor, stopping dead in my tracks when I saw someone I thought I had gotten rid of for good standing less than three feet in front of me. Katherine Pierce. I felt anger wash over me as I took in the now human doppelgänger, seeing how miserable she looked. Messed up hair and make up, chipped nails, and was that a hoodie?

"Oh, am I interrupting something?" Katherine asked with a smirk as she pointed out mine and Damon's current state of undress, "And here I thought you were dressed that way for me, Damon."

Within a second, I sent Katherine flying into the nearest wall, pinning her there with my telekinesis, instantly wiping that smug look off of her face and replacing it with fear.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here?" I bit out angrily

"Someone's chasing me." Katherine choked out, "I need help."

"And what makes you think that we'll help you." Damon questioned from where he had moved next to me

"He has a good point. Honestly I'd rather just rip your heart out." I added with a nonchalant shrug, "Though, I do find joy in seeing you struggle to survive as a human so here's another option, run. Run far away."

Katherine dropped to the floor as the pressure around her disappeared and just as I was about to add another threat, the house phone began to ring. I sent a glare in Katherine's direction before turning to pick up the phone.

"Salvatore residence." I answered, expecting to hear Sheriff Forbes or Meredith Fell reply seeing as they were the only two people that ever seemed to call the land line, only to hear the gruff voice of my old principal answer.

"Yes, hello. This is Principal Weber from Mystic Falls High school. I'm looking for Audrey Darke." He said and I held back a sigh, already knowing where this was going

"This is she." I replied with mock politeness, "What can I do for you?"

"I have you marked down as the legal guardian of Jeremy Gilbert." Weber added, stating the obvious, "Earlier today he got into a physical altercation with two classmates, sending them both to intensive care. I am aware of his rather troubled past but I'm afraid I cannot condone such violence at my school. I regret to inform you that Mr. Gilbert has been expelled and banned from the premises. I would have given him this news myself had he not fled from the school immediately after the fight."

"Don't worry, we'll find him. Thank you Principal Weber." I told the older man before hanging up and setting the phone down. I ran a hand through my hair as I turned back toward Katherine and Damon, seeing that the former had gotten back to her feet. I ignored the doppelgänger for the time being, only addressing Damon.

"Jeremy's been expelled." I told him, watching his eyes widen in shock

"You've got to be kidding me." Damon groaned, "It's been a day."

"Yeah, well, apparently sending two kids to the ICU results in immediate expulsion." I said before turning to Katherine, "You better be gone by the time we get back."

Damon and I headed to the door, only to be stopped by Katherine when she moved to stand in front of us.

"Wait. Audrey, Damon, you don't understand." Katherine said and I could have sworn that she was actually pleading, "I have enemies everywhere. What happens when word gets out that I'm human? I can't protect myself! I'm weak and I'm slow. Do you have any idea what it's like to run in heels? I have blisters. Please, just… help me."

I looked over at Damon and he just shrugged, not sure of what we should do. I shook my head before turning back to Katherine.

"You're very lucky that I'm in a rush, Kitty Kat." I told her, taking a step forward so our faces were less than a foot apart, "You have one day, one, to prove that you're worth the trouble of keeping you around. If you mess up in any way, I will personally fly down to New Orleans and tell Klaus just what you've been up to since he's been gone." I stepped back when I saw the fear on Katherine's face return, taking a hold of Damon's hand and heading out of the room. "One day, Kitty Kat, make it count."

* * *

><p>After Damon and I had gotten dressed, we decided to split up to make it easier to clean up the mess Jeremy had made. Damon had gone off to find my missing cousin, while I was on compulsion duty. I had just finished compelling not only Principal Weber to change Jeremy's expulsion to only a few days of suspension, but also the kids he had beat the crap out of as well as their parents not to sue him. I was just pulling into the boarding house driveway when my phone began to ring. I saw Damon's face flash on the screen and answered.<p>

"Found him." Damon said before I even had a chance to ask, "Looks like he's been hanging out at the Grill."

"Okay." I sighed in relief, " I'm on my way. I just got home so it'll take me a minute to get there."

"No, you just stay there. I'll talk to him and bring him back." Damon said

"You sure?" I questioned, "It's not like you guys get along or anything."

"It'll be fine, Audrey." Damon assured me, "Plus it will give me sometime to bond with Jeremy."

"Yeah, that sounds dangerous." I said with a laugh and I pulled the keys out of the ignition and stepped out of the Impala. "Try to keep the fatalities to a minimum."

"I'll see what I can do." Damon replied and I could almost hear him roll his eyes, "See you later.

"See ya." I said before hanging up and heading into the boarding house and straight up to the second floor. As I got to the top of the steps, I could hear music coming from the spare bedroom that was right next to mine and Damon's room. I could only assume that that's where Katherine had decided to stay and rolled my eyes at her choice. I walked into my room, shutting the door behind me, heading into the bathroom to take a quick shower before Damon and Jeremy got back.

* * *

><p>When I had finished my shower, I changed into a pair of denim shorts and a light blue flowy tank top before stepping out of the bathroom and back into the bedroom. Immediately I could tell something was off, it was obvious by the way the door was now hanging wide open when I knew for a fact that I had shut it. I would have heard if Katherine had been anywhere near the door since she was way more clumsy as a human, plus I could hear her moving around in the room next door. I heard a floorboard creak behind me and spun around to come face to face with Stefan.<p>

"Jesus Christ!" I shouted, taking a step back before it sunk in that Stefan was actually standing in front of me. The guy that had completely dropped of the face of the freaking Earth had shown up unannounced. "Oh my God, Stefan." I said with a smile before pulling my friend into a hug. "I can't believe you're back. I've missed you. We've all missed you." I took a step back, my smile faltering a bit when Stefan didn't hug me back but pushing that thought to the side since I was just happy he was back. "Where have you been?"

"Oh you know, here and there." Stefan said with a wave of his hand, a smirk plastered on his face that screamed something was wrong with this picture. Smirking was more of Damon's style, not Stefan's. "I just thought that it was a good time to take a break from Mystic Falls. Katherine called me and said that she was headed here, I knew that I would have to see that."

"Wait." I said, shaking my head in confusion, "You answered Kitty Kat's call but none from Elena, Damon, or me? And you actually came back here… for her?" Something was definitely wrong here, nothing Stefan was saying made any sense. Last time I checked he and Katherine weren't on the best of terms.

"Well, I didn't come back just for her." Stefan said, taking a step forward, leaving only a few inches between us. I felt my blood freeze and it finally clicked. The smirk, the vague answers, the lack of space between us. I was sure now that whoever was standing in front of me wasn't Stefan but it couldn't possibly be who I thought. It was impossible, he was supposed to be a statue at the bottom of the quarry. I took a step back when fake Stefan brought his hand up to cup my cheek, his smirk only growing at my response. "Don't move a muscle." I froze at his words, not because I felt compelled to do what he said but because the fact that he thought his mind control could work on me meant only one thing. Silas was standing right in front of me, no matter how impossible it was. "You are incredibly beautiful, Audrey. It really is a shame that I'm already invested in someone else. But, it's not like she would ever have to know what could happen tonight."

I broke out of my stupor when I realized what Silas was saying, pushing him and sending him flying back into the bathroom, not waiting a second before vamp running out of the room and into the room Katherine was in.

"What the hell?" Katherine snapped angrily, throwing a robe around herself since she had been in the middle of getting dressed

"Silas." Was all I had to say before the color drained from her face and she ran out of the room, just as I turned back to the entrance to mine and Damon's room to see Silas step out.

"Beautiful and feisty." Silas said and he looked at me, his annoying smirk still in place, adding a "Hello Katherine." as he looked at the doppelgänger to my right.

"If you came here for Kitty Kat then you can just leave now." I said, stepping in front of Katherine, "Cause that's not gonna happen."

"You make it sound like you have a choice in the matter." Silas said, crossing his arms across his chest.

"I do." I said, walking up to the only other immortal psychic, not bothering to look back as I added, "Katherine, now would be a could time to run."

Katherine did as I said and I continued to keep my eyes on Silas as I heard her run down the stairs. Silas took a threatening step toward me, trying to get past me and to the stairs, his smirk disappearing only to be replaced with annoyance.

"You know, it's incredibly stupid to think you can stop me." Silas told me, taking another step forward, "I will get her eventually."

"I don't know, I'm pretty smart, I'm sure I could hide her well enough." I said with a forced smile before pushing him back again, running down the stairs right behind Katherine. I heard Silas get up with a chuckle and begin down the stairs after us. I saw that Katherine was only a few steps in front of me, she had gotten slow during her time as a human, and waited until we both made it to first floor before looking back to where Silas was just walking down the stairs. While I had my attention focused on Silas, I felt a pair of strong arms grab a hold of my shoulders. I turned to face who was holding me, ready to remove both of their arms, to see that it was just Damon and calmed down a bit. Damon looked behind him and I followed his gaze to see that Jeremy was standing next to Katherine.

"Get her out of here and don't tell us where you're going." Damon ordered Jeremy and my cousin grabbed Katherine's arm and pulled her out of the boarding house. "You okay?" Damon asked as he turned back to me and let go of my shoulders.

"I've had better days." I said as I moved to stand next to him so I could watch Silas make his way toward us, "You are really slow."

"Guess vamp speed came with the upgrade." Damon added, causing Silas to roll his eyes as he came to a stop before us

"Get out of my way and give me Katherine." Silas snapped

"Drop the Stefan act first." Damon told him but Silas just laughed in return, sending another smirk in my direction

"Another one, seriously?" I groaned in realization, Damon looking between Silas and I in confusion as Silas just continued to smirk, "I don't think he's acting anymore, Damon. He's a freaking doppelgänger."

"That would be correct." Silas said as he wandered over into the living room, Damon and I sharing a look before going after him

"If I hear the word doppelgänger one more time, I'm gonna have to learn how to spell it." Damon said as Silas continued to move around the room, messing with the globe in the corner before looking back towards us and leaning against the closest chair.

"You say you don't believe me, and yet your mind is spinning at the possibility." I crossed my arms over my chest as Silas spoke, keeping my eyes on him, waiting for any sign of trouble.

"A, Get out of my head; B, I think I'd know if my little brother had an evil twin." Damon snapped at Silas

"Oh, we're not twins." Silas clarified as he moved to sit in the chair he had been leaning on, "See, when I became truly immortal, nature retaliated by creating a version of myself that was killable. It's called a shadow self."

"Great." I spoke up, "Well, now that we have that all shorted out I should probably point out that your plan didn't work. The cure's gone. Now, what do you want with Katherine?"

"I could tell you, but wouldn't it be so much more fun if it were a surprise?" Silas questioned, eyeing me in a way that made me want to wipe the smug look right off of his face

"We're not big fans of surprises." I replied, turning to look at Damon who was now looking at Silas as if he wanted to rip off his arm and beat him with it. I rested my hand on his arm in an attempt to calm him down. I waited until Damon was looking at me before adding, "You're not getting her by the way."

"Aren't you two adorable. It's nauseating." Silas said in disgust, causing both of us to look back at him, "Let me ask you a question, Damon. How well do you know your bother? Do you really think he would leave town for three months without so much as a phone call?"

"Where's Stefan?" Damon bit out, stiffening beside me

"He's suffering, like I suffered. So, call the hunter, bring me Katherine, and then I will tell you where your little brother is."

Within seconds, Damon had his phone out and was dialing Jeremy's number. I tuned out their conversation as I glared at Silas, thinking over what he had said. Stefan had been suffering all summer which explained why he had dropped off the face of the Earth the last three months. But if that was true then why hadn't I had a single vision of whatever was happening to him? I had even tried actively searching for him only to be stopped by the freaky mysterious suffocation. Unless…

"Good. Turn around, bring her back." Damon's words pulled me out of my thoughts as he finished taking to Jeremy.

"See, now that wasn't so hard was it?" Silas said, the smirk returning once again

I did my best to block out what Damon and Silas were talking about for the moment as I tried to piece together what had happened to Stefan. Silas had said that Stefan was suffering like he had. I doubted that Silas would have gone through the trouble of bring his doppelgänger all the way back to the creepy island where we had found him, so that was out. So Stefan was suffering somewhere, completely alone, where he couldn't get any blood or else he would have been able to free himself and get back. The last place both of them were supposed to have been was the quarry where Stefan was going to lock Silas's calcified body into the lake. I groaned as it all clicked, not realizing that both Silas and Damon were looking at me in confusion. Stefan had never made it back from the quarry, Silas had somehow undone the spell Bonnie put on him and locked him in the safe and used his own plan against him. Then there was the suffocation I had felt when I had been searching for him…

"I was drowning, not suffocating." I mumbled

"What are mumbling about?" Silas questioned, clearly annoyed, causing me to look toward him. I couldn't hold back a short laugh when I realized what his question actually meant and why he was annoyed all of a sudden, "Now what?"

"You know Silas, I was actually scared of you at one point." I told him with a small smile as he got to his feet, "But now I see that there is no reason to fear you."

"Is that right?" Silas asked, taking a step closer to me, my hand shooting out to grab Damon's arm before he could move in front of me like I knew he was going to do

"Yep, but I'm sure you can figure out why. I mean, you can read my mind, right?" Silas frowned at my question but that was all the answer I needed, "Except you can't. You can't get into my head at all. And without your little mind tricks to help you, you've got nothing against me. I'm faster than you and I'm stronger than you. So there really isn't any reason to be afraid of you." I paused for a moment to grab my phone out of my pocket and quickly dial Jeremy's number. I continued as I waited for my cousin to pick up, "You have no idea how much is pleases me to tell you that you're not getting Katherine."

"If I don't get Katherine, you will never see Stefan again."

"Maybe, maybe not. But I'll sleep a bit better knowing that I put bump in your master plan." I shrugged, bringing my phone up to my ear only to get Jeremy's voicemail

"You know, I may not be able to get into your head but I can easily get into Damon's." Silas reminded me, his smirk returning once again, "You're worried aren't you, Damon. Jeremy didn't answer his phone and he wouldn't ignore the call unless something was very, very wrong."

I felt my blood run cold at that. He was right, Jeremy always answered my calls. If I had to guess, Katherine had probably done something extremely idiotic and reckless. I shot a glare toward Silas before grabbing Damon's hand and heading toward the front door. As I walked into the hallway I paused for a moment, turning back to Silas and looking down at his left hand where I had seen Stefan's daylight ring. I held out my free hand and watched as the ring flew across the room into my awaiting hand.

"I'll be needing this." I smirked at the surprised look I got from Silas, "I assume you'll be gone by the time we get back."

With that, Damon and I headed out of the boarding house and to Damon's Camaro. It wasn't until Damon and I were both safely in the car until he turned to me.

"Please tell me you know where Stefan is." Damon said

"The quarry, at the bottom of the lake." I told him, "Silas probably locked Stefan in the safe and threw him in. Still not sure how Silas isn't a statue right now but I'll call Bonnie about that later. First we gotta find Jeremy and Katherine. Then we scourer every inch of that lake and find Stefan."

Damon nodded before starting up the Camaro and driving much faster than the legal limit out of the driveway and towards Old Miller Road.

* * *

><p>Damon and I sped down Old Miller Road, looking for any sign of Jeremy when we came across my Camaro smashed into a light pole. Damon stopped the car dead in it's tracks and I jumped out of the car, seeing Jeremy lying on the ground a few feet from the crash, completely motionless.<p>

"Jeremy." I cried out as I ran over to him. I didn't get a response and dropped to my knees next to him, taking in all the cuts and bruises as well as the blood. I bit into my wrist without so much as a second thought, shoving it into his mouth. "Come on Jeremy. You can't do this again. Come on." I heard Damon come over to us and kneel down next to me but I kept my eyes on Jeremy. "You're not doing this Jeremy. We're supposed to be taking care of you. Come on."

Jeremy gasped suddenly, his eyes fluttering open and I let out a sigh of relief. I heard Damon sigh as well and turned to see a small smile forming on his lips.

"Katherine..." Jeremy groaned, looking up at Damon and I, "She's getting away."

"We don't care." Damon said and I nodded in agreement before pulling Jeremy into a hug

* * *

><p>After I had made sure Jeremy was fully healed, I called Elena, having missed a call from her earlier about a vampire killed roomie. I had to make sure she thought everything was okay back here, after everything that had happened in the last two years she deserved a bit of normalcy.<p>

"Sorry I missed your call earlier." I apologized to Elena, leaning against my busted up Camaro between Damon and Jeremy, "Had some car troubles."

"What happened?" Elena questioned, worry clear in her voice

"Oh, just a fender bender, nothing that can't be fixed." I told her. I mean, it wasn't a complete lie but it wasn't exactly the truth either. "From what heard in your voicemail it sounds like your day was much worse than mine. How are you feeling? You wanna come home?"

"I can't yet." Elena answered much like I knew she would, she wasn't one to walk away from a mystery like the one that had presented itself at Whitmore. "Especially if my dad is wrapped up in this somehow. I have to find out what's going on here."

"It's probably for the best. It'll give Damon and I more alone time." I told her smiling at the groan of disgust I got from both Jeremy and Elena. "Goodnight, Elena."

"Goodnight." Elena replied with a short laugh before hanging up

"You didn't tell her that Silas is here." Jeremy pointed out and I put my phone back in my pocket.

"I also didn't tell her that Stefan was missing, you were expelled or that Kitty Kat is back in town." I added, running a hand through my hair

"So you lied." Jeremy said

"No, she withheld a bit of information so Elena wouldn't drop everything and come home to help." Damon clarified

"Exactly." I nodded, pushing myself off of my car to turn to Jeremy, "Look, whatever it is that's going on, we can deal with it. We can figure it out ourselves."

Jeremy nodded reluctantly before the three of us headed to Damon's car and back to the boarding house. I rested my head against the window and closed my eyes, thinking about everything that would go down now that Silas was back in town.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

**And there you have it my lovely readers, chapter four. Hope you liked it. Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, and alerts guys, it means a lot. Drop me a review on the way out and let me know what you thought. Remember, reviews equal faster updates. Until next time...**

**Audrey;D**


	5. True Lies

**Chapter Five-True Lies**

**Audrey's P.O.V**

"_Hey, it's Bonnie. But I guess if you're calling then you already know that. Anyway, leave a message and I'll be sure to get back to you."_

I groaned in frustration as I got Bonnie's voicemail for the tenth time that morning. I ran a hand through my hair as I ended the call, knowing what I had to tell her couldn't just be left on her voicemail. I had gotten a call from Liz earlier this morning telling me that Bonnie's dad had been killed off but there had been no witnesses even though he had been killed in front of the a crowd of people. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Silas had been behind it but it didn't really seem to make sense as to why. What could he possibly gain from killing the mayor? I was coming up blank on that so instead of dwelling on it, I turned gave a quick look over of the quarry from where I was standing on the edge of a cliff before turning around and heading over to where Damon and Liz were talking. After I had gotten her call, I had filled Liz in on what was going on and asked her to meet Damon and I at the quarry so we could try and speed up the process of finding Stefan with the help of some of her deputies. As I stopped next to Damon, I could see that Liz wasn't going to just hand over the man power we needed.

"Damon, Audrey, I know I promised that I would help you guys find Stefan but I can't dredge the lake, it's huge!" Liz said, crossing her arms across her chest

"Which is exactly why we wanted to dump Silas here." Damon pointed out and I could tell that he was already starting to get frustrated with Liz. "It's big enough where no one would stumble across him. Now, if I was Silas, I would put my doppelgänger where I was supposed to be to make him suffer."

"Look, I've already agreed to hold off on telling anyone about the Mayor's death until you figured all this out but I can't just waste all that man power on if's and maybe's."

"Liz, I know Stefan's down there." I spoke up, "I've felt him drowning multiple times this summer and if he had been going through the same thing I've experienced then he's suffering."

"Exactly, he's been drowning over and over again all summer, while we have been happily playing house." Damon added as I looked down at the ground, feeling a bit guilty for not figuring out what had happened to Stefan sooner, "Do we need to further elaborate our urgency?"

"Liz looked at us for the moment before sighing and saying, "I'll put some deputies on it."

"Thank you, Liz." Damon said before Liz nodded and had back to her squad car. As soon as we were alone, Damon turned to me and asked, "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, its just a lot is going on right now." I sighed, looking up at him, "Stefan's suffering somewhere, Katherine is on the run, the mayor is dead, Silas is on some psycho power trip and Bonnie isn't answering any of my calls. And on top of that, I have to hide everything from Elena." Just then my phone rang and I quickly pulled it out, glancing at the caller I.D. before answering and putting it on speaker, "Please tell me you have good news Jeremy."

"Matt found Katherine." Jeremy answered, "She was mid catfight with some lady who maced her. We think Silas might have mind controlled him some new friends."

"Makes sense." I added as I looked toward Damon, "Probably the people that were in the square last night when Rudy was killed. Unfortunately if he can control all of those people he's getting stronger."

"Just hide her, mini Gilbert. If Silas wants her bad enough to sic the whole town on her, that means we want her more." Damon told Jeremy, "Stay out of sight- you were the last person who Silas saw with her."

"Stay out of sight, got it." Jeremy said before hanging up.

"Well, that's one problem solved." I said with a grimace as I put my phone back in my pocket, "Only about a hundred more to go."

* * *

><p>About and hour or so later, Liz's deputies had showed up and started searching the quarry for any sign of Stefan or the Safe. So far there had been nothing and I was getting more and more worried as time went on. During our search, Elena had called to tell me about the creepy professor Maxfield calling her and Care out in the middle of class and Damon and I had been stuck talking to her for the last fifteen minutes trying to make sure she didn't get suspicious.<p>

"It was mortifying." Elena added after she finished telling us what happened and I saw Damon roll his eyes at her. I couldn't help but smile as I slapped him in the arm playfully, trying to take this seriously, "We just sat there in silence."

"Do you want me to beat him up for you?" I questioned hearing her laugh in response

"No, not yet. Whatever he knows, I'm gonna find out." Elena replied

"Did you compel him?" Damon asked

"No, Damon, because chances are, if he knows about vampires, then he also knows about vervain." Elena added

"Okay, so compulsions out." I said with a shrug, "There are still other ways to make him talk, How about violence? Did you threaten him?"

"No, I didn't threaten him, Audrey." Elena said, sounding a bit frustrated by Damon and I

"Would you at least tell us that you used torture." Damon added with a smirk

"Damon!" Elena snapped causing Damon and I to laugh in response, "Oh my God, you guys are terrible."

"You do realize that you're talking to not one but two reformed serial killers, right?" I questioned, earning an annoyed sigh from Elena

"Well, what would a hero do?" She asked

"How would we know?" Damon asked as I looked over my shoulder to see if the deputies had come across anything during our call.

"Stefan?" Elena said and I immediately turned my attention back to the phone

"I don't know." Damon answered, shrugging his shoulders, "Probably mope at him."

"Or give him tips on his hair." I added with a smirk of my own

"No, I mean, Stefan's here, right now." My blood ran cold at Elena's words and I instantly switched the phone off of speaker and brought it to my ear

"Elena, whatever you think you see is a trick. That is not Stefan." I tried to tell her but before I could get it all out she hung up on me. "Oh my God."

"Audrey." Damon said, grabbing a hold of my arm, "Come on, we have to go, now." I nodded before running with Damon to his car, hoping that nothing terrible would happen to Elena in the time that it took us to get to Whitmore.

* * *

><p>After breaking a plethora of laws, we managed to make it to Whitmore in just over an hour. Damon and I immediately split up, he went to look for Elena while I enlisted the help of Caroline. As soon as I got to Elena and Care's dorm room, I barged in, not even bothering to knock, and saw that Caroline was wearing only a towel, obviously just getting out of the shower.<p>

"Audrey?" Caroline questioned

"No time to explain in depth but have you seen Elena, lately?" I questioned her as I made my way to the pile of clothes on one of the beds and started throwing her something to wear

"No, she probably went to the bonfire to get more intel on our weirdo professor." Caroline answered, effortlessly catching the clothes I threw at her, "What are you doing here?"

"Silas is here. He's with Elena, pretending to be Stefan. Get dressed." I ordered turning to face the door as she started to get dressed

"I thought that Stefan dropped his body in the quarry…" Caroline said

"Look, I'll explain all of this after we find Elena, so just hurry up." I told her impatiently

"Oh, my God. Elena was right." Caroline said absent mindedly as she finished getting dressed, "All summer, she's had this pit in her stomach about Stefan. Done."

"What?" I said as I turned back around to face my blonde friend

"I don't know, she just said that she had this weird feeling that something was wrong with him. She didn't want to bother you with it since you've been going through some stuff too." Caroline told me and I remembered the one time Elena had come to me worrying about Stefan. She had seemed worried but I would never have guessed she was that freaked out.

"Turns out our problems were connected actually." I said, seeing the confusion on Caroline's face and continuing before see could say anything, "But like I said, I'll explain later. Now come on." I turned back towards the door and headed out of the dorm room with Caroline right behind me.

* * *

><p><strong>Third Person P.O.V<strong>

Damon had been filing through a crowd of extremely pushy and annoying college students for the better part of thirty minutes without finding so much as a trace of Elena. Just as he was about to call Audrey and see if she had had any luck he spotted Silas standing a few feet in front of him.

"Hello, Brother." Silas said with a smirk as Damon made his way toward him, "But I suppose distant nephew is probably more accurate."

"Where's Elena?" Damon asked, grabbing Silas by the throat, only making Silas laugh at his feeble attempt to intimidate him

"Now, Damon, there's no need for violence." Silas influenced the older Salvatore, pulling away Damon's hand from his throat without much resistance from Damon, "There you go. I wouldn't worry to much about Elena. Though, I'm sure you're really only worried because Audrey is. Look, I get why you like Audrey, I have a soft spot for brunettes, too. What I don't get is why she likes you."

"That's cause you haven't had sex with me." Damon said, glaring at Silas

"Cockiness masking fear." Silas observed, dropping his smirk for the moment, "How transparent."

"I have nothing to be afraid off." Damon said, crossing his arms over his chest

"Yes, because she loves you." Silas added, reading Damon's thoughts causing Damon to scowl, "I can't even get into that pretty little head of hers but I can tell you that's true. Which is why you're so valuable to me."

"I assume you didn't come all this way just to talk to Elena." Damon said, hoping to change the topic from him and Audrey

"No, that doesn't really make much sense, does it?" Silas asked, his smirk returning once again, "But if I told you exactly what I did, then it would ruin the fun. Although, there is something you can do for me Damon…"

* * *

><p><strong>Audrey's P.O.V<strong>

"_You've reached Damon Salvatore. Though, unless you're Audrey then I'm probably actively avoiding you, in which case it would be useless to leave a message cause I'm not gonna call you back."_

"Fantastic." I said sarcastically as Caroline and I searched through the crowd of college students for Elena, "Now Damon's not answering my calls."

"Why would Silas want to hurt Elena anyway?" Caroline asked

"Because he wants to hurt me." I started, "Last night I was stupid enough to challenge the douchebag by proving he couldn't get to me. So of course, what better way to do just that by going after the people I care about."

"You know, if you just told Elena the truth, all of this could've been avoided." Caroline said offhandedly and I shot her a glare before looking through the crowd again

"Really not the best time to bring that up, Care." I snapped before running into some guy since I was hardly paying attention to where I was going

"Watch where you're going, bitch." the random dude said and I had to take a deep breath to calm myself down

"You haven't seen Elena Gilbert at all, have you?" I asked politely not really sure why I was actually wasting time with this dick

"I have no idea who that is, but if I were her I'd probably run from you too." He replied

"Wrong answer." I said with a humorless chuckle before grabbing him by the throat, I had every intention of crushing this guys windpipe but Caroline stepped in before I had the chance and pushed him away from me.

"Forget all of this and get out of here." Caroline compelled him, waiting until he was a good distance away before turning on me, "You have to calm down."

"Calm down? Caroline, Silas turned the entire town square into a hunting party for Katherine like it was nothing." I told her, "How am I supposed to calm down when every single person here could be working for Silas?"

I watched as Caroline opened her mouth to say something but before she could say a word my phone started ringing. I pulled it out and looked to see that Damon was finally calling me back before answering.

"Found her." Damon said before I even had a change to say anything

"Thank God." I replied with a sigh of relief, "Where are you guys?"

Some rundown firewood shed next to the dorms." I turned to Caroline, knowing that she had heard what Damon said and she just nodded before vamp running toward the shed. I hung up my phone without so much as a reply to Damon and followed after her, making it to the shed within seconds to find a seemingly okay Elena and Damon as well as some guy that was unconscious on the ground.

"Uh...Who the hell is that?" I asked as I stared down at the unconscious guy

"Man..." Caroline said as she looked down at him, "That's Jessie. I kinda liked him."

"You can blame Damon for that." Elena told Caroline with a scowl, "Jessie and I were talking and he comes out of nowhere and knocks him unconscious."

I looked toward Damon and he only shrugged in response. I tried to be annoyed with him but at this point I probably would have down the same thing. Anyone here could be working for Silas, therefore no on could be trusted. I sighed before turning back to a pissed off Elena.

"Elena we need to talk..." I started but was quickly getting cut off by my cousin

"Don't you mean that you wanna lie to me some more." Elena shot back and my eyebrows rose in confusion, "Stefan already told me what's been going on in Mystic Falls. So what, you're here to try and cover your tracks?"

"Elena, please let me explain." I tried but Elena only scoffed before continuing on her rant.

"You know what, Audrey? No. I don't want to hear it. You couldn't possibly have a good enough explanation as to why Jeremy got expelled and took off." Elena snapped at me, "God, I should have known you wouldn't be able to take care of stuff back home. I always knew you were a screw up."

I was taken aback by Elena's outburst and actually had to hold myself back from punching her right in the face. I had come all the way up here to save her and yet here she was being a complete bitch just cause Jeremy had gotten expelled, as if that was the worst thing that had ever happened to him. i mean seriously, he had been killed at least two times. Expulsion kinda paled in comparison. I took a deep breath to try and calm myself down before I spoke.

"Elena, I came here to help you but I see you are past the point of listening to what I have to say. When you get off your high horse and are ready to listen I'll be at your dorm room." I told her before stomping out of the shed.

As I continued to the dorms I heard the sound of someone following me but just ignored it since I already knew who it was. It wasn't until we got all the way up to Elena and Caroline's dorm room, and I was about to open the door, did Damon grab my arm and turn me around to look at him.

"Hey." Damon said gently, cupping my cheek and making me look up at him, "Elena was wrong, Audrey. You know she didn't mean what she said, she was just pissed off."

"It really doesn't matter how pissed off she was, Damon." I told him, "It doesn't change the fact that she's right. I'm a screw up. She's been gone for two days and she trusted me to keep everyone safe but look at what happened. Everything is falling apart."

"None of that is your fault." He assured me while rubbing my cheek with his thumb, "You can't blame yourself for something you have no control over."

"Maybe, but that doesn't make me feel any better." I said, "I should be able to protect the people I care about."

"It's not your job to protect us all, Audrey." Damon said before smirking and adding, "Hell, I'm not sure anyone can protect all of us with everything that happens in Mystic Falls."

"True." I said with a short laugh, smiling up at Damon, "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Damon said, replacing the smirk with a smile before giving me a quick kiss.

My eyes switched between looking at Damon's lips and his eyes as he slowly pulled back, his hand still cupping my cheek as he did so. I brought my hand up to his and slowly removed it, taking it mine and intertwining our fingers before wrapping my free hand around his neck and bringing his lips back to mine. I turned us around as our lips moved in sync and pushed him against the dorm room door. Just as I was about to open the door I felt a stabbing pain in my back causing me to pull away from Damon slowly and looked down to see a fire poker sticking out of my chest only a few inches from my heart. I looked back up at Damon but instead of seeing concern, I saw a smirk plastered on Damon's face. Before I had time to process what was going on I was thrown into Elena's and Caroline's dorm room. A scream tore through me as I fell on my back, sending the poker nearly all the way through me. I looked towards the door as I heard it shut and saw Elena standing next to Damon, a murderous look in her eyes while Damon just looked amused. It didn't take much thought to figure out that this was Silas' doing.

"Elena, Damon, Silas got into your heads." I spat out as I ripped out the fire poker, doing my best to hold back another scream, "What did he tell you to do?"

"Get you alone..." Elena started as she picked up a field hockey stick

"Check." Damon said with a grin as he looked down at me

"Weaken you..." Elena continued

"Double check." Damon added as I tried to push myself up

"And then kill you." Elena finished, snapping the stick in half

"You two might want to work on your definition of weak." I groaned in pain as I pushed myself into a sitting position. Damon and Elena looked confused for about a second before I sent them flying across the room, Damon into the bookshelves with a sickening snap which made me think I had broken his neck in the process, and Elena into the farthest wall. Elena seemed to snap out of her trance as she looked toward me in horror. After making sure Damon was out for the count, I focused my attention on Elena seeing as it was more than likely she was going to try and kill me again.

"Audrey, I'm so sorry." Elena apologized as she got back to her feet, "I don't- What the hell is going on?"

"Let's just say you're under the influence of Silas' little mind game." I told her, "But I think I snapped you out of it."

"Silas? But he's-" Elena started but I quickly cut her off

"At the bottom of the quarry?" I finished for her, "Yeah, that's been a common misconception lately. You talked to him today."

"How is that even possible? I was in a crowd full of people. We hugged and talked about my life, we talked about-"

"Me?" I cut her off again, earning a nod in reply, "Yeah, I'm sure he had a few choice words for me."

"But wait. If that was Silas, then where is Stefan?" I remained silent because I could hear the murderous tone returning and the last thing I wanted to do was piss her off more. "Audrey, where is Stefan?"

"Um, Elena, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but do you think we could talk about this when you don't look like you want to rip my heart out." I suggested as I tried to keep myself up, for some reason I wasn't healing as fast as I should have been and something told me that there was vervain involved. Fantastic.

"You're right." Elena said as she took her head in her hands, "Every time I look at you, all I wanna do is kill you."

"Silas is using your anger at me, like a trigger." I told her, "You have to resist it, Elena. You have to."

"I'M TRYING!" Elena snapped before running past me, picking up the fire poker, and sitting in a chair next to the fire place. I watched in horror as she took the poker and drove it through her leg and the chair, screaming as she pinned herself to the chair. She took a deep breath before turning to me and demanding, "Tell me what's going on."

* * *

><p>After filling Elena in on everything that was going on, all I had really accomplished was making her even more angry which definitely was not something I wanted at the moment.<p>

"Poor Bonnie..." Elena spoke up as I finished telling her what had happened to the Mayor, "she must have tried to call me right after Silas stole my phone. has anyone talked to her, is she okay?"

"I don't know." I told her, "I tried calling her all morning but she didn't answer. Then I got distracted with you."

"Our best friend just died." Elena said with a glare pointed at me, "That's pretty damn important."

"You think I don't know that." I snapped at her even through I knew it was a stupid thing to do. "But so is protecting you and Jeremy, finding Stefan, and trying to figure out what the hell Silas wants with Katherine."

"I just left." Elena pointed out, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Elena, you getting angry again." I told her as that murderous look made itself know, "You have to stay calm."

"Jeremy got expelled! You and Damon have him playing white knight to Katherine, whose actually killed me." Elena shouted, her anger rising, she began pulling at the gas line as she continued, "Stefan's been suffering for months while you and Damon, two self proclaimed serial killers, were obliviously rolling around all summer."

"Elena, stop, you really don't want to kill me." I told her as she pulled the gas line free and gas started to fill up the room. "You gotta realize this before you're gonna break through Silas' compulsion."

"I can't, all I can think about is killing you." Elena shouted as she grabbed a matchbox from on top of the fireplace.

"Well, you're gonna have to try to think about something stronger than your desire to kill me, or you're gonna kill all of us." I said as I glanced over at Damon, who was still unconscious. My focus was brought back to Elena when I heard the sound of her trying to light a match. Luckily it didn't seem to be working. "Stefan. Think about Stefan. Caroline told me you've been worried about him, that you had a pit in your stomach. Describe it, tell me about it."

"What?" Elena asked in confusion as she tried to light another match, "I-no, I can't."

"Think about him, Elena." I tried again, "Think about that feeling you get. Describe it to me."

"It's like a chill, but I can't explain it...it's like I can feel him." Elena said as she dropped the matchbox, "He's trying to reach out to me, but I don't know where he is, and I can't understand what he's trying to say. All I know is that he's scared, and lonely, and he's in a lot of pain. We have to find him."

"We will, Elena. I promise."

"The rage. It's gone." Elena said with a sigh as she leaned back in her chair.

"Good." I sighed in relief. Relief that only lasted about a second since Damon began to stir immediately after. "Morning sunshine."

"What the hell?" Damon groaned, rubbing his neck as he looked between Elena and I, "Did I miss something?"

"Nothing important." I told him with a wave of my hand, "But quick question, do you have this uncontrollable desire to kill me?"

"No." Damon replied, seeming even more confused than before

Just then Caroline burst into the room, she seemed to freeze for a moment when she took in her mess of a dorm room. After a moment her shoulders just slumped and she asked "Do I even want to know?

* * *

><p>The next morning, Damon and I stood next to his Camaro as we waited for Elena to say goodbye to Caroline. Elena had decided to take a break from college for a while we tried to sort everything out back home with Silas.<p>

"How are you feeling?" Damon asked for the umpteenth time since I had filled him in on what had happened while he had been under Silas' compulsion.

"Pretty good considering that I was literally stabbed in the back by my cousin and almost murdered by my boyfriend." I said with a sigh

"I am really sorry about that last part." Damon apologized as he wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him

"It wasn't your fault." I sighed as I rested my head on his shoulder, "It's not like you could help it that a two thousand year old immortal psychic used mind control to try and get you to kill me." I caught sight of Caroline waving to Damon and I as she headed back to her dorm and waved back before adding, "Wow, I can't believe my life had gotten to the point where that is an acceptable excuse."

"Something tells me that will not be the weirdest thing we will ever have to deal with." Damon said and I groaned in annoyance at that, "Speaking of which, something tells me that's the professor Elena was talking about earlier."

I turned my head slightly to catch a glimpse of Professor Maxfield without being to obvious. I listened closely as I tried to pick up on their conversation.

"You knew my dad?" Elena asked the professor. I really wouldn't have been too surprising if he did though, seeing as Grayson had gone to school at Whitmore

"Knew of him." Professor Maxfield clarified, "He's a legend around here. Brilliant. I've studied all his research. I can only hope to do the kind of work he did

"So, does that mean that he forged death certificates, too?" Elena questioned and, I had to admit, I was a little surprised that she was being so blunt

"And here I thought you were just passionate about microbiology." Maxfield said with a smirk that creeped me out more than Silas'. Something was really off with this guy and it was freaking me out a bit. Unfortunately that would have to be a problem for another day, "I have office hours tomorrow. Come by, we can chat."

"Um, I would, but I have other important things on my plate right now." Elena explained

"Well, let me know when that plate clears." Maxfield said before walking away

As soon as he was gone, Damon and I separated and made our way around the car to where Elena was standing by the trunk.

"I guess that's how a hero would do it." I said with a smile as I shut the open trunk

"Aren't you the least bit curious about the whole Nancy Drew and the creepster-professor thing?" Damon asked with a smirk and I couldn't help but laugh

"Caroline'll take over." Elena told us, "I can't stay here knowing that Stefan's out there somewhere."

"Well, If you're gonna join our scavenger hunt for Stefan, then you should have this." I said, pulling Stefan's ring out of my pocket and handing it to her

"It's Stefan's daylight ring."

"Yep, snagged it from his douchey doppelgänger yesterday." I said with a smile, "Now that we have all that sorted out, let's go find our broody vampire."

Damon rolled his eyes at me, trying to hold back a smile as he headed to the drivers seat. Elena looked at me for a moment before shrugging and heading into the backseat as I went to the passengers side and got in. When everyone was all settled in, Damon started up the car and we made out way back to Mystic Falls.

* * *

><p><em>Audrey…help me…<em>

I opened my eyes slowly as a familiar voice called out to me. I looked around mine and Damon's room where we had fallen asleep after a long day of looking for Stefan but found nothing. I looked at the clock on the side table and saw that it was only half past two in the morning and just assumed that whatever I had heard had just been in my head. I closed my eyes in an attempt to go back to sleep only to hear it again.

_Help me…please…_

This time I knew exactly whose voice I was hearing. It was Stefan. I got out of bed, being careful not to wake up Damon as I did so, and made my way out of the room. I wasn't sure where I was going but I felt a strange pull coming from the direction of the quarry. I headed out the front door, not bothering to shut it behind me as I continued walking to the quarry. It took about twenty minutes to get to the edge of the quarry and I made my way to the cliff next to the waterfall. I looked down as the water below and brought my hands out in front of me, focusing on the bottom of the quarry where Stefan had to be. Nothing happened at first but after a few minutes debris from the quarry began floating up from the water. It didn't take long until I found what I was looking for and let everything else fall back beneath the water. I guided the Pierce and Franklin safe to a few feet away from the cliff before letting it fall to the ground. As I was about to open the safe I felt a pain shoot through my head that was so severe that I clutched my head in my hands before screaming and dropping to my knees.

I shook my head and looked around me utterly confused as to how I had ended up at the quarry in the middle of the night only wearing shorts and a tank top. My first thought was to call Damon and have him pick me up so I could figure out what the hell was happening to me. First I experience Stefan drowning over and over again and now I wake up in the middle of the woods with no clue as to how I got here. Unfortunately calling Damon would require a phone and I hadn't thought ahead far enough to keep my phone in my pajamas. I ran a ran through my hair and sighed in frustration. Well, I guess this meant that I was walking. I turned to head back home and nearly tripped over a huge safe that was blocking my path. My eyes widened in surprise as I realized what I was looking at, the safe we had planned on locking Silas in, the safe Stefan was currently stuck in. I had absolutely no idea how the safe had gotten there but I really didn't care. Without a second thought I unlocked the safe and threw opened the door to reveal a very pale Stefan. While he seemed to be unconscious I could hear him breathing so that was a plus. I looked around for any sign of animals to get some blood for him but came up empty. I guess vampire blood would have to do. I bit into my wrist and brought it to Stefan's lips, hoping to feed him enough blood to get to his feet so we could get back to the Boarding House. Stefan latched down on my wrist immediately although I doubted that he was actually conscious at this point seeing as his eyes didn't open once. After about a minute I started to feel light headed and I tried to take my hand back but Stefan seemed to have a vise grip on it.

"Stefan!" I snapped at him, "It's me, Audrey. You have to stop or you're gonna bleed me dry."

I managed to get my hand back from him. I waited a few seconds for any sign of movement from him but he still seemed a tad dead. I leaned over the edge of the safe and Stefan's eyes immediately flashed opened. I didn't have anytime to react before Stefan grabbed me by the shoulder and sunk his fangs into my neck. I struggled to get free to no avail and as Stefan continued to drink my blood I felt my self slip into unconsciousness, everything around me turning black.

* * *

><p><strong>Third Person P.O.V<strong>

Damon groaned as he heard his phone ringing on the nightstand. He blindly grabbed for it, not even bothering to check the caller I.D. before answering it.

"Hello." he answered in a tone that was some mix of irritation and exhaustion . Not that whoever was calling him should expect anything less at... What ever the hell time it was... in the morning.

"Good morning to you too, Damon." the voice of Liz Forbes replied sarcastically and Damon immediately sat up, hoping to get some good news from the Sheriff. "I know it's early but we found something you might wanna see. An old Pierce and Franklin bank safe."

"Have you opened it yet?" Damon asked as he jumped out of bed, getting dressed as fast as his vampire speed would allow. He looked back toward the bed to see if he had woken Audrey up only to find that she wasn't there.

"Well, I didn't think it would be smart to open it if it was possible that a vampire that had been starved for three months would emerge and drain my deputies." Liz replied as Damon continued to look for Audrey. He had left their bedroom and looked around most of the house but had come up empty. He had thought that she might have left but both of her cars, and his, were still in the driveway. That combined with the fact that the door had been left wide open left him a little on edge.

"Probably smart." Damon said as he headed out of the boarding house, closing the door behind him, and walked right up to his car. "I'll be there in five."

Damon hung up and, as he made his way to the quarry, he called Audrey, only to get her voicemail. Suffice to say, he was more than a little bit worried for her at the moment.

* * *

><p>True to his word, Damon arrived at the quarry five minutes later, although he was a bit unfocused since he had been calling Audrey nonstop on the drive over but kept getting the same result.<p>

"Audrey, call me as soon as you get this." Damon left yet another voicemail as he stepped out of his Camaro and headed over to where Liz was standing.

"Problem?" Liz asked, voice full of concern

"Isn't there always." Damon said with a scowl as he looked at the heated up safe in front of him, "I'll deal with this first."

"Okay. We didn't find anything in the quarry but a deputy found this here about an hour ago when he first showed up." Liz filled Damon in as they moved closer to the safe, "But it wasn't here when we left last night. So obviously someone moved it here during the night."

Damon nodded as he grabbed the handle, turning it until he heard it unlock. He opened up the safe door, expecting to see his little brother but instead find Audrey. Her wrist and neck were covered in blood and what looked to be still healing bite marks.

"Audrey?" Liz questioned in confusion as Damon bent down and picked Audrey up bridal style

"Guess that answers the question of how the safe got here." Damon said, "And you were right about Stefan. He definitely was hungry, probably still is." Damon turned and headed back towards the Camaro with Liz in tow. He set Audrey in the passenger seat before turning to face Liz once more, "Thanks for your help, Liz. We got it from here."

"Well, if you need anything else just let me know." Liz offered as Damon opened the drivers side door, "Good luck finding Stefan."

"We'll need it." Damon said with a scowl as he got into his car and headed back to the Boarding House, Audrey just starting to stir as he drove away from the quarry

* * *

><p><strong><span>Author's Note<span>**

And there you have it guys. Thanks to everyone that reviewed on the last chapter, it means a lot and actually motivates me to keep writing for you guys. drop me a review on the way out if you're feeling generous. Remember, reviews equal faster updates. Until next time my lovely reader...

Audrey;D


	6. Original Sin

**Chapter Six-Original Sin**

**Audrey's P.O.V**

My head was pounding as I came to, making it nearly impossible to remember where I was and what the hell was going on. It only took a few moments for the pounding to subside enough for the memories from last night to return.

"Stefan." I gasped, my eyes snapping open as I took in my surroundings. But, instead of still being in the woods, I was in the passengers seat of Damon's Camaro, which had just pulled into the Boarding house driveway.

"Woah there, Audrey." Damon said from the drivers seat, putting the Camaro in park as I sat back, feeling a wave of exhaustion wash over me. "Thanks to my baby brother you're suffering from major blood loss."

"Where is he?" I questioned, turning to look at Damon, my head still feeling a bit fuzzy

"Isn't that the million dollar question this week." Damon replied, turning in his seat to face me, "Apparently, after you helped him out of the quarry and fed him, he left you locked in a safe and ran. What I want to know is how you found him in the first place and why you thought it would be a good idea to go solo."

"I don't know." I drawled, finding in a little difficult to come up with a coherent thought. "I just woke up in the middle of the woods next to that safe. Although I will admit that cracking open said safe and feeding a starved, ripper vampire was not my smartest move."

"Something tells me that finding Stefan and dragging that safe out of the quarry is a bit more than just sleepwalking." Damon said as I felt a pressure building in my head, "Either way, the fact that you can't remember anything isn't a good sign."

"Clearly." I bit out, as I started rubbing my temples in an attempt to relieve the pressure in my head

"Hey, what's wrong?" Damon asked gently, noticing the pained look on my face

"My head..." I hissed before opening the car door and stepping out. I wasn't able to take more than a step forward before a shooting tore through my head, bringing me to my knees. I clutched my head in my hands and I screamed out in pain. As the pain continued I started seeing fragments of some kind of vision. Stefan was stumbling downs deserted highway as the sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon- there was a bar with a red awning called Jo's Bar-Stefan falling to his knees outside of the bar, blood dripping from his mouth as he started burning in the rising sun. As soon as the visions stopped the pain disappeared and slumped backwards onto the side of the Camaro.

"Blood." I said to Damon, who had moved in front of me as soon as I had fallen, "I need blood."

Damon disappeared into the house, returning within seconds with two blood bags which I eagerly took from him.

"What was that?" Damon asked as I downed the blood, his voice laced with worry

"A vision I think." I told him, using the Camaro to pull myself off of the ground

"Really, because last time I checked your visions usually don't end with you screaming bloody murder." Damon said

"Obviously something is wrong, Damon. Add it to the list." I countered as I pushed myself off of the car and took a step toward the front door of the boarding house. I didn't make it very far before Damon was walking beside me, his arm wrapped around my waist. "I appreciate that you care Damon, but I am capable of walking ten feet." I told him, only earning a smirk in return as we walked into the boarding house. We headed up the stairs to our room but before we made it inside, we were stopped by Elena coming out of her room.

"Oh my God, Audrey, what happened?" Elena questioned as soon as she saw the blood covering me.

"Sorta found Stefan and thought it would be good idea to feed him." I replied, Elena's eyes widening in shock. She opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by Damon.

"And to that her, Stefan drained her dry, locked her in a safe, and ran for the hills." Damon added with a scowl

"That actually makes sense." Elena sighed, running a hand through her hair as her shoulders slumped. Damon and I shared a look of confusion but, surprisingly enough, waited patiently for her to explain, "You know that feeling I've had about Stefan all summer? Well this time it was more than just a pit in my stomach. I had a dream about him and it was like I there with him, it was so vivid. I saw Stefan walking out of this bar. It had a red awning, a broken neon sign, and he was screaming in pain."

Some time during Elena's speech I went stiff. There was no way that it was a coincidence that Elena had seen the same exact thing I had seen only a few minutes ago. Something was seriously wrong with this and I had to figure it out ASAP. I turned to Damon, feeling his gaze on me, and was about to tell him that I had seen the same thing when a voice from down the hall spoke up.

"Jo's Bar. Off route twenty nine." I looked past Elena to see Katherine standing there with her arms crossed over her chest. "I think I had the same dream."

"Fantastic." I said sarcastically as I looked between Katherine and Elena, "Okay, you two tell Damon exactly what you saw, anything that is even remotely significant. I'm gonna go clean off all of this blood and get dressed. It looks like we have a long day ahead of us." I didn't wait for a reply before I headed into mine and Damon's room.

* * *

><p>It wasn't until I had just finished getting dressed that Damon joined me in our room. He shut the door as he walked in before making his way into the bathroom where I was standing in front of one of the mirrors putting my hair in a high bun.<p>

"I'm gonna go out in a limb and say that your vision was the same as Elena and Katherine's dream." Damon guessed as he leaned against the door frame

"Pretty much." I sighed, turning toward him, "Which shouldn't be possible at all."

"So what, are you saying whatever you three saw wasn't actually real?"

"I have no doubt that it's real, Damon. What we saw either did happen or is going to." I replied as I walked past him back I to the main room, "What I am saying is that it's very possible for one person to have a vision like that, but three? No way. Someone had to have planted that dream slash vision in our heads."

"I thought your whole show down with Silas meant that he couldn't get into your head close range, let alone from a distance." Damon said, recalling the other night

"I don't think that whoever did this was Silas." I said, "Keeping Stefan hidden was his leverage for Katherine, so why would he show us something that could lead is right to Stefan?"

"Great." Damon groaned, "There's someone else out there that can get into all of our heads and manipulate us?"

"Maybe." I shrugged, honestly I wasn't sure what was going on. "But that's something we have to deal with later. Right now we have to worry about finding Stefan because he's out there right now starving and without a daylight ring."

"I have the doppletwins looking for any bars called Jo's bar on route twenty nine." Damon told me as he moved over to the closet and grabbed a duffel bag and started filling it with stuff we might need while we were out looking for Stefan. "It's not much but at least it's a place to start."

I nodded in agreement as I picked up a pair on black converse and put them on. It didn't take long for Damon to finish packing and we both headed out of our room and down into the parlor. Elena was staring down at a map as we entered, rolling Stefan's ring around in her hand.

"Any luck?" I questioned as I made my way over to the table of alcohol and poured two glasses of bourbon

"I found nine bars along route twenty nine but not a single one of them was called Jo's." Elena replied while I handed Damon one of the glasses, "I had a feeling that there was something wrong all summer, and I ignored it. But I was right, Stefan was in a safe and he was suffering. And now we're following some psychic dream because it's the only lead we have. It all sounds so crazy."

"Oh trust me, it doesn't sound crazy, it is crazy." I told her with a smirk before taking a sip of my bourbon, "But since this isn't the first psychic dream I've followed, I'm a bit more open minded."

Elena smiled at that, but any trace of happiness faded as soon as Katherine walked into the room and said, "Shotgun." Damon, Elena, and I turned to her seeing that she was now fully dressed and holding her own travel bag. "What? I get carsick in the back seat. Another charming, human side effect you stuck me with." Katherine added, the last bit as she glared at Elena

"Please tell me that she's not coming." Elena groaned

"Trust me, Audrey and I have no interest in Katherine's well-being, but for some reason Silas wants her real bad, and if Silas wants her, we want her more." Damon told her and I just shrugged at the desperate look Elena shot me.

"Can't we just stash her in the cellar?" Elena suggested and I had to hold back a laugh, "Or maybe a deep, dark well with a pair of water wings?"

"Do you really think that I wanna take a road trip with you, America's most boring, self-righteous vampire?" Katherine questioned as she sat down in the closest arm chair, "Just remember, Damon and Audrey wouldn't have to play bodyguard if you hadn't shoved the cure down my throat."

"You where trying to kill us!" Elena snapped at her doppelgänger only making Katherine smirk in response

"I will admit though, I take great pleasure in knowing that you wasted your one shot at a human life on me." Katherine added

"Okay, play nice or I'm gonna revisit the deep dark well idea." I warned Katherine after downing the rest of my bourbon, "I'm sure the one on the Lockwood property is still available."

"Look, I wanna find Stefan just as much as you do, and not just because I don't wanna be a pawn that you can trade off for his life." Katherine said while keeping her eyes on Elena, "I care about him, I always have. And since we've been having the same dream…makes me think that you care about him just as much."

"Okay, trains leaving the station." Damon replied after a few moments of awkward silence between Elena and Katherine. He made his was across the room, grabbing my hand as he was about to pass me, and pulled me toward the front door, "Choo-choo!"

* * *

><p>We had been driving around route twenty nine for the better part of an hour without any sight of Jo's bar. I could tell that Elena was beginning to get more anxious with each passing moment, whereas Katherine was just getting more annoying. It was getting to the point where I was seriously rethinking my choice to sit in the back with her, but I guess that I would rather have to sit through Katherine's crap than have to break up a bitch fight between her and Elena.<p>

"You sure you know what you're looking for?" Damon asked, looking away from the road for a moment to look my way, "The last bar had a red awning and a neon sign."

"I'm not sure." I told him, turning to look out the window, "I didn't get a very good look but I'm pretty sure I could tell you if I saw it."

"I'll know it when I see it." Elena said from the front seat

"Me too." Katherine added as she leaned forward in between Elena and Damon. I rolled my eyes at the doppelgänger before using my telekinesis to send her flying back in her seat.

"No one asked you." Damon told her while Katherine glared at me

"I'm just trying to make conversation. Anything to drown out this awkward silence." Katherine said, finally taking her eyes off of me only to turn to Elena, "So Elena, I couldn't help but overhear that you've been dreaming about Stefan all summer. Must've been very stressful."

"They weren't dreams." Elena bit out, clearly getting pissed off with Katherine, "It was just a bad feeling, like something wasn't right with him."

"Oh, no, yeah, sure. I totally get it." Katherine said with a wave of her hand, "There's still a connection between you two. Maybe deep down you know that he was your one true love and breaking up with him was a big mistake."

"Ignore her." Damon cut in, "As soon as the vervain's out of her system, we'll compel her and put her on mute."

"Or maybe Stefan's been trying to reach out to you all summer, but you've been to preoccupied with your college fantasy to help him so he reached out to the person that he trusts. Me." Katherine continued with a smirk as if Damon hadn't interrupted her, "Nah, you're probably right. Elena, Audrey, and I had the same exact dream on the same night. Why would that mean anything."

"Okay, that's enough." I snapped, turning to Katherine, "Kitty Kat, don't make a sound until we find Jo's bar. Understood." Katherine opened her mouth, presumable to say something colorful, but couldn't seem to form any words. Sometimes this whole psychic influence thing could come in handy. "Thank God, I've been wanting to do that since we left."

* * *

><p>After a few hours of driving, Elena and I finally saw the bar from our dream slash vision. Damon pulled into the parking lot and he, Elena, and I slowly got out of the car, quietly shutting the doors behind us since Katherine had fallen asleep awhile back and we didn't want to wake her up.<p>

"Are we really just gonna leave her in there?" Elena asked as we moved toward the entrance of the bar

"If she wakes up and sees the bar, Audrey's influence will ware off and she'll start talking again." Damon told her, "I really didn't wanna disturb our peace and quiet."

"Plus, we rolled the windows down for her, she'll be fine." I added with a smirk in Elena's direction, only to stop when I saw that Elena had frozen and was now looking up at the bar in shock, "You okay?"

"Uh, yeah." Elena said, tearing her eyes off of the bar to look at me, "It's just…it looks exactly like it did in the dream. Isn't that a little freaky?"

"Welcome to the last two years of my life." I said with a laugh, "It's a lot freaky but look on the bright side, it's only a one time deal for you. No come on, let's go see if Stefan's inside."

The three of us made our way into the nearly empty bar, the only other person there being a young woman whose name tag read Jo. The first thing I noticed was the large bandage covering her neck where I assumed Stefan had taken a bite out of her.

"Can I get you something?" Jo asked as soon as she saw us

"Yeah." Damon smiled as he leaned against the bar, "Why don't you tell us what happened to your neck, Jo?"

"Some sicko attacked me, bit me, then told me to run." Jo replied without any hesitation, "So I did, and when I looked back he was on fire."

"The sun came up." I told Damon as I stood next to him at the bar, "Elena has his daylight ring."

Damon nodded before asking Jo, "Then what happened?"

"Some woman shoved him into a truck then drove away." Jo answered immediately, "Never seen the girl before but she was driving Cam Peterson's truck. He lives about ten miles down that dirt road out back." Jo added, pointing in the direction of Peterson's house before grabbing two shot glasses and filling them with whisky, "Here, it looks like you two could use of these."

"Yes we could." I said, taking the shot with a smile. I held my glass toward Damon and added "Cheers." before we both downed our shots. Immediately I felt the all too familiar burn of vervain laced with the whisky and started coughing in an attempt to get rid of the burn.

"Vervain." Damon spat out in between coughing fits of his own

"What did you do?" Elena barked at the bartender who I realized now looked extremely panicked

"I told her to pour them a drink or I'd kill her." We all turned toward the back door to see a strangely familiar stranger with a very thick European accent walk in

"Who the hell are you?" I questioned her as soon as the burn died down enough for me to say a full sentence. Unfortunately, before the new girl could answer, Katherine came bursting through the front door

"Which one of you is Katherine Pierce?" She asked, holding up a gun and looking at Katherine and Elena

"She is." Katherine replied quickly, pointing at Elena who only rolled her eyes at her doppelgänger

"Katherine is a compulsive liar." The European chick said before pointing her gun at Elena, "But I need her alive."

"Katherine, run!" Elena shouted before vamp running forward and throwing the Euro girl against the nearest wall. Katherine immediately ran back through the door she had come through without a word, of course the only time she would listen to any of us was when her life was in danger.

"You two really do look exactly alike." The unknown brunette said with a smirk as the veins beneath her eyes began pulsating and her fangs extended. She grabbed Elena by the arm and tossed her across the bar before running out after Katherine.

"You okay?" I asked Elena as I stumbled over to where she was and helped her up.

"I'm good." Elena answered, standing up and dusting off her outfit

"Wonderful." Damon groaned as he made his way over to us, "Now we've got a vampire bounty hunter to deal with. Let me guess: Euro-bitch was not part of the dream."

"Nope, I've never seen her before." I replied as Elena shook her head, "But whoever she was, she really wanted Katherine. Which mean's she's probably a Silas spy."

"I'll go chase after her. You two go find Stefan." Elena said as she tried to run out the front door but I quickly caught her by the wrist, stopping her in her tracks

"Hold up there, Elena. That chick literally just tried to kill you and you're gonna go after her."

"You said so yourself, Audrey." Elena reminded me, "We need Katherine and we don't have time for a detour. Stefan's hurt. Find him."

"Fine." I sighed in aggravation, "But if you see any sign of trouble, any at all, you let her go, you understand me? I don't care how bad Silas wants Katherine, she's not worth your safety."

"Got it." Elena said with a nod before vamp running out of the bar. I nervously ran a hand through my hair as I turned and headed toward the back door with Damon in tow.

* * *

><p>Thanks to vampire speed, it took less than five minutes to find the cabin that Jo had been talking about. I pushed open the door and saw that Stefan was tied down to a chair with vines in the middle of a circle of herbs.<p>

"Well this is something you don't see everyday." I said as I stepped inside the cabin, looking around for any one else, only to find that Stefan was all alone.

"Stefan." Damon called out and Stefan groaned before looking up at us, "Couldn't call a brother?"

"Nice to see you too, Damon." Stefan said with a smile, which dropped when he saw me, "Audrey. Um, sorry about earlier."

"You mean when I tried to help you out and you drained me dry and locked me in a safe?" I questioned as I crossed my arms across my chest. "It's fine, no harm no foul. What the hell is going on here, anyway?"

"Well, Silas's ex-girlfriend decided to come back from the Other Side." Stefan told us as he tried to free himself from the vines that were holding him down to no avail.

"Qetsi-whetever?" Damon guessed as he moved forward to untie his brother

"It's Qetsiyah." A female voice corrected from behind me. I turned around and saw a young woman who I assumed was Qetsiyah, who was also looking pretty good for someone who was over two thousand years old. She rolled her eyes before looking at Stefan and added, "Do you see why I want to change it?" She headed over to the fire place, grabbing a pot from the fire and pouring the contents into small bowl. "You won't be able to break those vines. The spell won't release him until I get what I want." Damon took a step back sent a glare to Qetsiyah who was to absorbed with whatever she had taken out of the fire to notice. "Even with those special powers of yours, Audrey."

"Well, I guess the rumors are true. You really are a ray of sunshine." Damon said with a scowl, "Quick question for you, why is my brother wearing your compost pile?"

"I'm going to link Stefan to Silas." Qetsiyah explained as she set the bowl down on the small kitchen table and looked up at us, "Casting a spell on his doppelgänger will neutralize Silas's mental powers. Once he's weakened, I will force him to take the cure."

"Well, that's a great idea." I said sarcastically, taking a step toward Qetsiyah, "Force the cure down his throat. Oh wait, the cure's gone. It's ingested."

"You mean Katherine?" She asked, "I'm aware of her condition. She was supposed to be with you."

"Wait." Stefan said, looking at Damon and I in confusion, "Katherine took the cure?"

"We have a lot of catching up to do, Stefan." Damon told him before realizing what Qetsiyah had just been saying, "Wait a minute. What do you mean 'supposed to be with us'?"

"My guess is that she's the one that planted those dreams." I said, keeping my eyes on the very powerful witch in front of me, "Pretty impressive party trick."

"Getting into the doppelgänger's heads was no problem." Qetsiyah smirked, "But getting into your head was a completely different story. I've been trying to have you get Stefan out of that safe for months but your walls have always been up, only allowing me access for a few moments here and there. Until last night anyway."

"What can I say? I'm stubborn." I shrugged, trying to cover up how freaked out I was that Qetsiyah was able to get into my head while Silas couldn't.

"So I've seen." Qetsiyah replied before looking in Damon's direction, "So where is Katherine?"

"We ran into a little snag."

"Oh well." Qetsiyah sighed before looking down at the bowl of what looked like melted metal, "Then I'll just get started without her." I turned to face Damon as Qetsiyah started to chant in Latin, which was never really a good sign.

"Okay." Damon said slowly, "Well, thanks for the hospitality, but we should really get going if we want to beat traffic."

"Yep, yep. He's right." Stefan added, sitting up in his chair

"Probably don't want to get on my bad side, Damon." Qetsiyah said, without so much as looking up at Damon

"You realize you're not the only one with a bad side, right?" I questioned her with a glare as I walked up to her

"Aren't you brave." Qetsiyah said, taking a step forward so there was only a foot between us, "Without his powers, Silas is a psychic nobody. We can defeat him. Isn't that what you want?"

"Just do it, all right." Stefan said from his seat, obviously not wanting a fight to break out "Just do it."

I watched as Qetsiyah walked back over to the table with a smirk dancing across her face before she began chanting over the bowl once more. After a few minutes she dipped her fingers into the bowl, not flinching at all as the hot metal coated her fingers, and stepped into the circle, stopping when she was standing behind Stefan. The circle of herbs burst into flames as Qetsiyah brought her fingers to Stefan's temples and continued her chanting. Stefan screamed and began squirming in his seat as she continued her spell.

"What are you doing to my brother?" Damon questioned over Stefan's screams

"I'm frying Silas's brain." Qetsiyah replied, "No one said it would be pretty."

I took a step back from the circle as the flames grew but kept my eyes on Stefan as his eyes began to bleed. A few moments later, Qetsiyah's chanting cut off and she removed her hands from Stefan's head. The fire died down immediately and Stefan stopped screaming, although that was only because he had passed out.

"Alright, we're done here." Damon snapped as he moved into the circle

"You're right." Qetsiyah agreed as she walked away from Stefan, "We're done. It worked."

I kept my eyes on Qetsiyah as Damon undid the vines that were holding Stefan, not trusting the witch in the slightest. I heard Damon behind me trying to wake up Stefan, although it didn't seem to be working. Whatever Qetsiyah had done to him had knocked him out cold.

"Whatever you did to him, undo it." Damon snapped, finally breaking me out of my stare down with Qetsiyah to turn and watch him as he stalked toward her.

"Relax, I just burned through his conscious mind. He'll wake…eventually." She replied with a small smile as she crossed her arms across her chest, "You sure you want to take him home?"

"What are you suggesting?" I questioned her, taking a few steps toward her, "Leaving him here so you can live out some weird fantasy with him. Hate to break it to you, but Stefan here cares about you just as much as Silas does."

"I'd keep him safe." Qetsiyah bit out with a glare

"You have a bad track record with men." Damon reminded her

"I _want _to keep her safe." She clarified, turning back to Damon, "Now that he's linked to Silas, Silas can't mess with out heads. What do you think Silas is going to do to him when he figures that out?"

"Probably something terrifying." Damon said sarcastically, "Whatever it is we'll deal with it. Meanwhile, you can just go back to hell." Damon ran forward and grabbed Qetsiyah by the throat, but before he could snap her neck she mumbled something in Latin. Damon let go of her immediately and grabbed his head, screaming out in pain as he dropped to his knees. I didn't even have a chance to get to him before she threw him across the cabin into a wall, knocking him out. I focused my attention on Qetsiyah, sending her flying through the front door before I ran after her, only to be stopped at the front door by some invisible barrier. I locked eyes with Qetsiyah as she let out a small laugh while getting back to her feet.

"Don't worry, that barrier is only temporary. It should give me just enough time to get a safe distance away from you." She explained before turning around and heading down the dirt path, "I'll be seeing you around, Audrey." I pounded on the barrier for a few moments before finally giving up and vamp running over to a still unconscious Damon.

"Damon." I called out, kneeling down and helping him up into a sitting position, "Come on, Damon. I can't carry both of you back to the car." I shook his shoulders and sighed in relief when I heard him groan. "Thank God."

"I really hate witches." Damon hissed as he slowly opened his eyes and looked up at me

"I know." I said, biting back a laugh as I helped Damon to his feet, "Next time you probably shouldn't try to kill a very powerful two thousand year old witch. They seem to react badly to that."

"I'll keep that in mind." Damon rolled his eyes as I helped him up, "Speaking of, where is the bitch witch?"

"She ran off, although not before putting up a barrier spell." I told him as I turned and looked through the open door, "We're stuck here for a while."

"Great." Damon bemoaned.

Before he could say anything else, we both heard someone making their way toward the cabin and turned in time to see Elena burst through the door. Without so much as a word to me or Damon, she ran where Stefan was still unconscious in the chair Qetsiyah had put him in. Elena tried in vain to wake him up before giving up and turning to us.

"What the hell happened?"

* * *

><p>It was well after dark when we finally got back to the boarding house. The spell Qetsiyah had put on the cabin had dissipated after sunset, an hour or so after we had filled Elena in on what happened with Stefan and Qetsiyah, and she had filled us in on Katherine's absence. Apparently the European bitch had snapped Elena's neck and taken Katherine with her.<p>

Now, Damon and I stood in the doorway to the parlor keeping an eye on Stefan since he was sprawled across the couch, still unconscious, with Elena sitting on the coffee table across from him.

"So if anything good came from this day at all, at least we know who caused your sleepwalking episode." Damon spoke up, taking eyes off of his brother to turn to me

"And the drowning." I added as I leaned against the door frame, "I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that she can get into my head. Though I guess it's good she can only do it when I'm extremely weak or asleep." Damon nodded before looking back to Stefan, worry for his brother clear on his face. I took Damon's hand without a word, squeezing it reassuringly as I watched Elena put Stefan's ring back on his finger. We stayed like that for a few minutes until a groan from Stefan broke the silence in the room. I let go of Damon's hand as we made our way to where Elena was now standing in front of the couch.

"Hello, brother." Damon said as Stefan sat up and looked at the Damon, Elena, and I in confusion

"Stefan..."Elena started slowly, "We missed you."

"Uh, I'm sorry..." Stefan said as he got to his feet, "I have no idea who any of you people are."

I turned to Damon, my eyes widening in shock. I should have know Qetsiyah's spell would have some sort of consequence but I would have never guessed that consequence would be Stefan forgetting us. Life was certainly going to be very interesting with this twist.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

**I am so sorry for the long break between updating guys. I sorta got my laptop taken away for a while and had to type most of this up on my Ipod. I'm gonna start writing the next chapter later today so it shouldn't be too long until another update. Thank you to everyone that reviewed on the last chapter. You guys are freaking amazing! Anyway, hope you enjoyed Original Sin, make sure to drop a review on the way out. Until next time my lovely readers...**

**Audrey;D**


	7. For Whom The Bell Tolls

_**Disclaimer:**** Nope. Still don't own the Vampire Diaries**_

**Chapter Seven- For Whom The Bell Tolls**

**Third Person P.O.V**

"March 12th, 1922. I blacked out for days. I woke up in a stranger's blood in places I don't recognize with women I don't remember. I feel alive again." Stefan read from one of his old journals as he sat in a newly stolen car with the man who he had been told was his brother. It had been a few hours since Stefan had woken up to see a group of strangers watching over him and, if he was being perfectly honest, his life was only getting more strange with each passing moment. Than again, that could be some weird mixture of the amnesia and finding out he was a ripper vampire that had killed his father almost a hundred and fifty years ago, "Okay, I think I've read enough."

"Nada?" Damon questioned, looking away from the road for a moment to turn to his brother. He had been hoping Stefan's overly descriptive journals would have jogged at least one memory but that didn't seem to be happening

"I know nada means nothing. I know what day it is, I know what year it is, I know this car has a V-8 engine…" Stefan told Damon, marveling at the things he knew and how virtually useless they were in the big picture, " unfortunately I am two journals deep and I have absolutely no memory of who the hell I am." Stefan pauses for a minute as he finished a blood bag that Damon had given him, frowning at how unsatisfying it was, "And is this supposed to fill me up?"

"Well, yes and no." Damon replied, keeping his eyes on the empty road in front of him, "Technically, yeah, because you're a vampire. Realistically no, because you're, you know, you."

"Ah yes." Stefan said with a smirk at Damon's words, because in all actuality he knew next to nothing about who he was. Although the journals had painted a very interesting picture about who he apparently had been, "The insatiable and blood-lusting, Ripper of Monterrey."

"And we're only in the 1920's, baby." Damon's words cause Stefan to roll his eyes before he looked down at the empty blood bag in his hands and started to roll down the window.

"Well, sorry, but this is a lot to process." Stefan said as he attempted to throw the blood bag out the window but, figuring out what Stefan was doing, Damon grabbed the bag from him and threw it in the backseat.

"You're a vampire, not a caveman," Damon scolded the younger vampire as Stefan rolled the window back up

"So, let me get this straight." Stefan started as he turned to Damon, "I helped you steal this car, I found out I was a vampire who killed his own father, and yet I don't litter?"

"You're a man of principle, Stefan, who had his memories erased by a two thousand year old witch." Damon recalled, scowling at the thought of Qetsiyah

"Yeah. Well, I bet that two thousand year old witch probably drives a little faster than you." Stefan scoffed as he read the speedometer, "Wait. Let me guess. Fun brother." Stefan said as he pointed at himself before patting Damon on the shoulder, "Safe brother." Damon chuckled at his brothers assumption before slamming his foot down on the gas pedal, "What are you doing?"

"Do you trust me?" Damon asked as he continued to speed down the road

"Do I really had a choice?" Stefan questioned

"Nope." Damon replied with a smirk before pulling the emergency brake. The car began to slide down the road a few yards before flipping multiple times, ejecting Damon and Stefan from the car as it continued to flip down the road. Metal twisted and fell off of the car, scattering across the road while the car finally stopped a ways away from where Damon and Stefan were laying on the road, their wounds healing quickly.

"Ohh, I got it. You're the fun brother." Stefan groaned as he sat up and looked at the wreckage Damon had caused.

"And clearly he's the destructive brother as well." Both Damon and Stefan turned toward the new voice and watch as Audrey (at least that's what Stefan thought he had heard Damon call her) slid off of her car and walk toward them, making her way around numerous pieces of twisted car parts as she did. "I hope you two are done ruining nice cars, because if you're not you'll have to find another ride."

"What are you doing here?" Damon questioned her as he got to his feet, "I told you I was taking care of this."

"Yeah, well, Elena wasn't convinced with the _so far, so good _text you sent, so I came to calm her down." Audrey replied, looking around at the wreckage around her, "And clearly she had a right to be worried. Anyway, since you wrecked your ride, I'm gonna assume you need a new location for Vampire Amnesia 101. Lucky for you two, it's the one day all year that the Grill is open for twenty four hours."

"Is it remembrance day already?" Damon asked as the three moved away from the car wreck and towards Audrey's Impala

"Ironically enough, yes." Audrey said with a smirk as she opened the drivers side door

"Uh, shouldn't we do something about this." Stefan questioned, gesturing to the battered car that was strewn across the road, "Like move it out of the middle of the road."

Damon and Audrey shared a look for a few moments before Audrey broke the stare down with a roll of her eyes as she turned back to the wreckage.

"I suggest you move out of the way." Damon told Stefan as Audrey walked back toward the wreckage. Stefan did as Damon but wondered why Audrey was the only one making an effort to clean up their mess. Stefan watched Audrey closely as she stopped in the middle of the road and let out a gasp as pieces of the car began floating a few inches off of the ground before flying into the ditch on the opposite side of the road. After less than a minute the road was free of debris and Audrey was walking back to the car with a smile that was caused by the awestruck look on Stefan's face.

"How the hell did you do that?" Stefan asked as he, Damon, and Audrey got into the Impala

"I'll explain when we get to the Grill." Audrey said with a laugh as she started up her car and drove off in the direction of the Grill.

* * *

><p><strong>Audrey's P.O.V<strong>

"Wait. So you're telling me that you're a psychic vampire with telekinetic tendencies." Stefan summed up everything I had just finished telling him

"Pretty much." I said with a shrug as I held my shot of tequila in my hand, "But come on, you just found out you're a hundred and sixty three year old vampire and you're focusing on me? Today is all about you remembering who you are."

"Like I told Damon earlier, it's a lot to process." Stefan said with look in Damon's direction. Before Stefan could say anything else, the sound of the bell in the front of the Grill filled the room along with the words "To Uncle Steve!" Damon, Stefan, and I all rose our shot glasses before downing our shots. "Wow. Is this town always so upbeat about dead people?"

"Well, in the theme of morbid town traditions, you go back to the 1820's when everyone was so paranoid about the cholera thing that they would occasionally bury a body a wee bit before its time." Damon explained to Stefan as I looked around the packed restaurant for a waitress to get us some more shots since we were down to our last round, "And most were so paranoid that they would request to be buried with a string attached to a bell above ground, and then the whole family would hang around the grave for twenty four hours in hopes of hearing the bell and that their loved one would come back…"

"But now it's really just a kick- ass excuse to get hammered." I finished as I waved over a waitress that wasn't too busy. Without a word, she began picking up our plethora of empty shot glasses. I looked over at Stefan and saw that he was staring at our waitress as if he was about to lunge across the table and sink his teeth into her neck. "Hey sweetheart, would you mind getting us another round please."

"No problem." She smiled as she finished picking up our glasses and headed back in the direction of the bar

"What the hell was that?" Stefan snapped as soon as the waitress left

"That, my brother, was you jonesing for something a little stronger than a blood bag." Damon told him

"So what's the problem?" Stefan questioned, "You've spent the whole day trying to convince me that I'm a vampire. I'm convinced. Let me act like one."

"Unfortunately Stefan." I started as I leaned back in my chair, "There are essentially two types of vampires in the world. There are those that can handle moderation and then there are those who can't stop feeding until they literally rip someone apart. And you already know which one you are."

"Well, I'm no shrink. Right?" Damon nodded at his brothers questioned before Stefan continued, "But maybe killing our father and turning into a vampire and all the trauma associated with that is what made me a vampire that feeds on people and then rips their heads off, but now that I don't have all those memories and all that guilt, maybe the Ripper thing won't be such a problem."

"Let's not try it out, okay?" Damon suggested and I sighed in relief when the bell rang once more and we did another round of shots

"And here I thought catching up on nearly two centuries would be a drag." I heard Elena say and looked up to see her standing in front of the last open chair at our table

"Remind me of your name again." Stefan smiled as he looked up at my cousin but I didn't miss the hurt that flashed across her face

"Elena." She told him before looking at Damon and I, "You haven't told him about me?"

"Two hundred years is a long time." Damon told her as our waitress came back with a few more rounds of shots for us, setting them down on the table before walking off to deal with another customer.

"You should take a seat, Elena." I told her as I grabbed another shot glass, "I was just about to give Stefan a crash course of the last ninety years." I waited until Elena took a seat before turning to Damon and adding, "Stop me if I miss anything."

"Oh, this should be good." Damon chuckled with a smirk and I playfully hit him in the chest before turning back to Stefan.

"Okay, I'll start with the 1930's since Damon just finished with the twenties." I told him before talking another shot as the bell was rung, "You spent the thirties on ripper detox with your bff Lexi, who you should have read about in one of your journals. You and Damon met up again in the early fourties in New Orleans before you were sent off to war. After the war was all tied up you returned to Mystic Falls because your great great whatever nephew Joseph was killed in an 'animal attack'"

"My bad." Damon said with a shrug before adding, "You spent the Sixties protesting against the war being the hippy pacifist that you were. And you went to Harvard in the Seventies."

"Apparently in '72 you went on a double date with Hugh Hefner and the twins." Elena added with a small smile, "I was told that your date was miss June."

"You and Lexi had a lot of fun with Bon Jovi in the Eighties." I continued, "And the Nineties consisted of a dreadful grudge phase that I have never had the pleasure of actually seeing since you burned all the pictures. Which leads us to May 2009. But before we get there you might want to get a stronger drink, you're gonna need it."

"Wow. Seems like I've lived a pretty interesting life, it's a shame that I can't actually remember any of it." Stefan said before getting up and heading over to the bar

"So far so good, Mr. I can take care of my brother, Mr. I know what I'm doing." Elena mocked Damon.

"To be fair, I never said that knew what I was doing." Damon replied with a smirk as he downed another shot of tequila. Elena shot a glare at Damon before pulling out her phone and beginning to dial someone's number

"What are you doing?" I questioned as she brought the phone up to her ear

"I'm calling Bonnie." Elena replied as she waited for Bonnie to pick up, "A witch did this to him, maybe a witch can undo it."

"I'm already on top of things, Elena." I told her as she set her phone back down with a frown, presumably because she had gotten Bonnie's voice mail again. "I've called her every half hour since Stefan woke up and left her a bunch of voice mails. She hasn't called me back yet. Now, until she does the best thing we can do is let just be Stefan."

"Fun, carefree, drunk Stefan without a hundred years of vampire guilt on his shoulder." Damon said as he nodded over to where Stefan was leaning against the bar, flirting with our waitress.

"That guilt came from a blood addiction that might still be hard wired in his brain." Elena pointed out in a whisper as she leaned forward

"You take one philosophy class and now you're the queen of nature versus nurture?" Damon questioned Elena with a smirk earning an eye roll in return.

I did my best to hold back a laugh as I looked back toward the bar to keep an eye on Stefan, only to find that he and our waitress were gone. "Uh, guys. We have a problem." Damon and Elena followed my gaze to the bar, quickly coming to the same realization that I had.

"Where'd he go?" Elena asked as she started frantically looking around the bar for any trace of Stefan

"You don't see that cute little waitress anywhere, do you?" Damon groaned as I closed my eyes, hoping I would be able to pick up the sound of Stefan's voice in the crowded restaurant. Luckily it wasn't that hard to sift through the sound of drunken confessions and drink orders to find Stefan's voice.

"…_You seem really nice. It's not like I want to rip your head off, but I keep being told that if I have one taste I won't be able to stop. And, although the thought of killing you scares the hell out of me, this feeling of hunger that I have inside of me is just so much more powerful…"_

"Storage room behind the bar." I told Damon in a rush, just catching sight of him vamp running in the direction of the room as I opened my eyes and shot up to my feet. Elena and I rushed to the storage room at a human pace, trying not to cause too much of a scene and walked in to see Damon holding Stefan up against a row of metal shelves. I spotted our waitress who, despite the blatant look of terror on her face, wasn't moving or making a sound and walked over to her, compelling her to forget everything that had happened. As soon as the waitress was gone I turned back towards Damon and Elena, trying to figure out what out next move would be with our resident amnesiac vampire.

* * *

><p>After our failure in the Grill, Damon, Elena, and I decided that it would probably be best if we moved to a less crowded place to lessen the chance of Stefan going full blown Ripper on us. Which, of course, led us to the cemetery, where we were now walking around the few people that were around on our way to the Salvatore crypt. I heard Stefan scoff from in front of me as I took a sip of the bottle of bourbon that I had grabbed from the Grill and saw that he was looking down at Honoria Fell's grave.<p>

"What the hell kind of name is 'Honoria Fell'?" Stefan said

"Shh. You're kind of the one that killed her." Damon informed his brother, grabbing my hand and pulling me into the crypt as he added, "Hindsight being twenty twenty, way to much temptation at the bar. So, if this Ripper gene is biological, then we need to minimize human contact until we get your brain all witchy-wooed back to normal."

"So, this is the family crypt, huh?" Stefan mused as he looked around the small structure, "Anybody here I didn't kill?"

"Well, we covered our father, who art in hell." Damon started as he let go of my hand to ring the bell Elena had brought with, "Uncle Zach…my bad." he added as he rung the bell again, "On the bright side, our mother died of consumption."

"Oh, good." Stefan comment as Damon shook the bell once more.

I felt my phone buzzing in the back pocket of my shorts and pulled it out to see that Jeremy had texted me, saying that we needed to talk alone. "Well, I gotta go see a man without a witch, I guess you'll just have to carry on without me. This is for you." I said, handing the bourbon to Damon before heading out of the crypt. As soon as I was far enough away from the crypt I started dialing Jeremy's number.

"Hello." Jeremy answered as I stopped at the exit of the cemetery

"Please tell me the reason you're being so weird is because you have some good news to tell me." I replied, starting to pace back and forth between the metal gates. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I would be able to take anymore bad news today

"I need you to come meet me, and I need you to come alone." Jeremy said and I could tell that something was up by the sound of his voice.

"Yeah, I gathered that from your text message." I said sarcastically, "What's going on?"

"I know where Bonnie is." I would have been elated had it not been for the solemn tone of Jeremy's voice, "Get to the boarding house and I'll explain everything." Jeremy added before hanging up on me. I sighed as I shoved my phone back in my pocket before turning once more and almost running into Damon.

"So, little Gilbert found Bonnie the teenage witch?" Damon asked as I sent a glare his way for sneaking up on me

"He said that he knows where she is." I told him, crossing my arms across my chest, "But I know there's something he's not telling me and whatever it is isn't good."

"Well, then I guess we should go figure out what's wrong then." Damon said before attempting to walk out of the cemetery but I stopped him by grabbing his arm. "What?"

"Jeremy said to come alone." I said, "Meaning you can't come with me."

"Please tell me you're joking." Damon groaned, turning back toward the crypt where we could see Elena and Stefan standing close together, deep in conversation. "You're telling me I have to stay with the love birds?"

"Sorry." I said, chuckling at the pout I got in return, "Look, if I find out anything or need you, I'll call."

"Do me a favor and call soon." Damon pleaded, putting a hand on my waist and taking a step forward, "I can only take so much of those two doing the romance novel stare at each other."

"I'll think about it." I laughed before giving him a kiss and pulling away. "Good luck." I called out as I headed back to my car, smiling as I heard Damon groan once more.

* * *

><p>I pulled into the boarding house driveway and felt a wave dread wash over me as I parked. This feeling only escalated as I got closer to the boarding house and by the time I turned the door knob I was in full blown panic mode. I knew whatever Jeremy was going to tell me was going to be bad despite what he had said about finding Bonnie. I took a deep breath as I opened the door and did my best to conceal my dread as I stepped inside.<p>

"Where's Bonnie, Jeremy?" I asked my cousin when I spotted him standing by the fireplace in the parlor, "Call her, get her here as soon as possible."

"That's the problem." Jeremy said as I walked further into the room, "I can't actually call her. No one can." I stopped a few feet in front of Jeremy and signaled for him to continue, "I've been lying to everyone for months, and I can't keep lying knowing that everyone's waiting for her to swoop in and save the day."

"Jeremy, you're not really making any sense." I told him

"Think about it, Audrey. I was dead. I wasn't supposed to come back. Magic finds a balance." Jeremy started and I felt my heart drop when I realized what he was trying to tell me. I noticed that he was glancing at something behind me but refused to turn around, not willing to accept the truth. "You can't just bring someone back from the dead. There is always a price to pay."

"Please, don't say it." I begged, my eyes welling up with tears as I tried to ignore the presence I felt behind me

"It doesn't matter if I say it or not, you already know." Jeremy said as he continued to look over my shoulder, "She didn't show up to her dad's funeral and nobody has spoken to her all summer."

"Jeremy, stop it!" A familiar voice snapped from behind me and, against my better judgment, I turned around, tears falling freely when I saw Bonnie standing there.

"No." I shook my head, as I took a step back from my friend, trying to choke back a sob, "No, no, no. This can't be happening. Not again."

"Audrey, I'm so sorry." Bonnie apologized, "I should have told you earlier but with everything you've been going through, I didn't want to bother you."

"Bother me!" I shouted, my voice breaking a bit, "You're acting like this is no big deal. Bonnie, you're dead!" I turned toward Jeremy and added, "And you knew all summer."

"I wouldn't let him tell you." Bonnie explained and I kept my eyes on Jeremy, seeing the hurt clear on his face as he nodded.

Without a word, I closed the distance between Jeremy and I, wrapping my arms around him. "I'm sorry." I told him. He had kept Bonnie's death a secret from everyone for months and it was obvious the affect it had been having on him. I pulled back and tried to wipe away the tears, not turning to look back at Bonnie or Jeremy as I headed toward the study to figure out what the hell I was going to do next.

* * *

><p><strong>Third Person P.O.V<strong>

Damon sat on the hood of Elena's car, trying to keep a safe distance between him and the former couple who were currently trying to recreate the day they had first met. Or rather, the first time Elena remembered meeting Stefan, seeing as Stefan had saved Elena from a car crash a few months before they had originally met. Either way, Damon didn't really want to be within a mile of the two. If he was being completely honest, the flirting was a bit sickening. Damon sighed in relief when his phone began to ring and saw that Audrey was calling.

"Thank God you called." Damon answered his phone as he slid off of Elena's car and started walking in the direction of the boarding house, not bothering to tell Elena and Stefan where he was going, "I'm not sure how much more of the love birds I can take."

"Damon…" Audrey started solemnly as she stared at the roaring fire, sipping a glass of bourbon she had poured before calling Damon. "We need to talk."

"What's wrong?" Damon asked, stopping in his tracks and looking over his shoulders to make sure Stefan and Elena were far enough away so they couldn't hear the conversation.

"It's Bonnie." Audrey stated simply. The less she said the easier it was to not break down again. "I can't…can you come home?"

"I'll be right there." Damon replied, hanging up his phone before vampire running to the boarding house. Audrey threw her phone on the couch before downing the rest of her bourbon and looking down at the empty glass in her hand. Within a second the glass was thrown into the fire place and Audrey watched as the flames licked upwards for a moment before returning back to there normal height once more. Audrey took a deep breath as she leaned against the small table full of alcohol in front of her and closed her eyes as she waited.

* * *

><p>It took Damon less then five minutes to get to the boarding house, not returning to normal speed until he ran through the front door, causing it to slam into the wall and make Jeremy jump slightly.<p>

"Where is she?" Damon asked as he stormed toward Jeremy but ,before the youngest Gilbert could get a word out, the sound of glass shattering in the study filled the room. Damon ran to the study, throwing a "Stay here." to Jeremy over his shoulder as he went. Damon slowed down as he entered the study and saw that the wall of windows to his left had been broken and glass was covering the ground.

"She's gone." Audrey said from where she was standing in front of the fire place, "We're all idiots, thinking that she would just disappear without so much as a word. She didn't call, barely emailed. How could I have been so clueless?"

"What are you talking about?" Damon questioned, making his way over to Audrey and stood in front of her. It only took one look at his girlfriend to see that she had been crying, only confirming the suspicion that whatever she was going to say next wasn't by any means good news.

"Bonnie's dead, Damon." Audrey told him, a few tears falling no matter how much she tried to hold them back, "She died bringing Jeremy back. I knew something was wrong the moment Jeremy walked back into the boarding house without her but I deluded myself into thinking she was okay. I should have seen this coming. I can see the future, I can see the past, I can see freaking ghosts, but for some reason I was so wrapped up with my own problems that I didn't even notice that one of my best friends was dead." The dam broke and Audrey couldn't hold back the tears anymore. "And it's not just that either. Without her, there is nothing we can do for Stefan, he's stuck this way. After everything that's happened, I'm supposed to be strong enough to handle this."

"Hey." Damon said gently, taking another step forward and wrapping his arms around Audrey as she started sobbing into his shoulder. Knowing that there was nothing that he could say to fix the situation, Damon just added a lame "I'm sorry." as he ran a hand over her hair and let her cry for as long as she needed to.

* * *

><p><strong>Audrey's P.O.V<strong>

I was sitting on the couch nearly an hour later when I was finally able to stop crying and somewhat pull myself together. "Here." Damon said as he handed me a glass of bourbon before sitting down on the couch. I downed my glass without a word before setting the glass down and reaching for the full bottle instead, knowing full well that I was gonna need it. I felt my phone buzz for the tenth time and decided that whoever was calling must have something important to say if they still hadn't gotten the hint that I didn't want to talk. I pulled out my phone and sighed as I looked down to see that it was Elena calling. I answered the phone and didn't even get a chance to say a word before Elena started.

"Where are you?" Elena questioned, obviously panicking about something, "I've been calling you for an hour."

"I'm at home." I told her after I took a deep breath to compose myself, "Look, Elena, I gotta tell you some-"

"Audrey, Stefan's gone." Elena cut me off and I immediately looked toward Damon with wide eyes.

"One sec, Elena. Damon's here so I'm gonna put you on speaker." I said before I set down the bottle of bourbon and put my phone on speaker. "Okay, what happened?"

"I have no idea." Elena said, "He just ran off and said that he was hungry. Guys, there is an entire graveyard full of people here tonight."

"Listen, Elena, I'm on my way." Damon spoke up as he kept his eyes on me, probably seeing that I was in no shape to be around Elena, or anyone else for that matter. "Audrey will stay here in case Stefan shows up." Elena agreed, hanging up quickly to continue looking for Stefan before he did anything drastic. "Are you gonna be okay?"

"I'll be fine." I replied, not even convincing myself of the fact, "Just go find Stefan, Damon."

Damon nodded, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to my forehead before getting up and heading toward the front door. As soon as he was gone I grabbed the bottle of bourbon and took a long swig as I turned to look at the fire in the fireplace once more.

* * *

><p><strong>Third Person P.O.V<strong>

Stefan stormed into the boarding house after his run in with Jessie and Caroline less than ten minutes ago where he had tried to drain Jesse dry. Stefan made his way to what Elena had said was his room and tried to remember where all his journals were kept, coming up blank and having a bit of trouble finding them.

"Hello, Stefan." Stefan spun around when the slightly slurred speech broke the silence and saw that Audrey was leaning against his doorframe, holding back a half empty bottle of whisky. "Glad to see you made it home a-okay."

"Bit early for you to be hammered, isn't it?" Stefan asked as he went back to his search

"Never to early on remembrance day." Audrey replied with a smirk as she pushed herself off of the door and took a few steps into the room. "Whatcha looking for?"

"The rest of my old journals." Stefan answered without looking back at the psychic. It wasn't until he heard Audrey laughing from behind him did Stefan finally turn around, "Am I missing something?"

"You mean like that giant bookcase that is clearly filled with journals." Audrey said after her laughter had died down enough for her to speak clearly, pointing to the back corner of the room where said bookcase was settled next to Stefan's desk

"Ha ha." Stefan intoned sardonically as he walked over to the bookcase, hiding a small smile as he continued, "make fun of the guy with amnesia." Stefan looked over the fifteen or so journals there before he started taking them down and throwing them onto his bed. When all the journals were on the bed, Stefan headed over to the closet, pulling out a duffel bag that he had seen earlier and filled it with clothes.

"What exactly are you doing?" Audrey questioned before taking a sip of her whiskey and sitting down on the edge of Stefan's bed next to his journals.

"Leaving." Stefan replied while zipping up the duffel and walking back over to the bed , "I can't be around people that are constantly telling me that every path I take is gonna lead me to wanting to slaughter entire towns."

"We really just wanted to warn you about your dark side." Audrey defended as she watched Stefan try to pick up all the journals, "But I guess that was pretty unfair of us. We didn't even give you a chance to prove whether or not you could handle the temptation. Can't really define you by a past you don't even remember." Stefan when he had about half the journals, deciding that he would probably have to make another trip for the second half, until Audrey set down her bottle and grabbed the rest of the journals as she got to her feet. "What are you going to do with all of these anyway?"

"Get rid of them." Stefan answered as the pair made their way out of the room, "Like you said, I'm not gonna let myself be defined by my past. I'm starting fresh."

"Well, in that case, I have a fire burning in the study that is in dire need of some tinder." Audrey told him with a smile before leading Stefan into the study. As soon as Stefan stepped into the study he noticed the broken windows with shattered glass beneath them and by the way that Audrey just walked by it, it was obvious that it wasn't a surprise to her.

"What happened here?" Stefan asked as he and Audrey set down the journals next to the fire place, Stefan staying near the fire while Audrey made herself comfortable on the couch.

"Unfortunately, telekinesis isn't always easy to control." Audrey brushed off without looking at the windows, "But, I wouldn't worry about it if I was you. Just focus on the whole 'freeing yourself from your past' thing."

Stefan chuckled at the drunk psychic as he threw a few of the journals into the fire. As Stefan watched his past begin to burn, Audrey grabbed a note pad from the side table and scribbled her phone number before tearing out the page. "Here." she said as she handed it to Stefan, who had turned at the sound of tearing paper. "If you need anything, just give me a call." Stefan looked down at the number for a moment before sticking the paper in his duffel. As Stefan continued to burn more journals, the two sat in comfortable silence until the sound of the front door opening and closing a few minutes later broke it.

"Audrey?" Damon's voice filled the room as he and Elena made their way into the study

"Stefan!" Elena exclaimed when she spotted her ex-boyfriend sitting near the fire, "We've been looking everywhere for you."

"Well, you found me." Stefan said as he threw a few more journals into the fire

Damon walked farther into the room slowly, looking toward the windows first, noticing that the broken glass had been moved into haphazard piles underneath them, then to where Audrey was lounging on the couch with a bottle of bourbon. Damon grimaced when he noticed the empty whisky bottles on the table but decided to deal with Stefan before talking with Audrey.

"What are you doing there, brother?" Damon asked as he watched Stefan throw the last of his journals into the fire.

"Oh, just tying up a few loose ends." Stefan answered as he got to his feet, grabbing his duffel and throwing it over his shoulder.

"You sure you want to do that?" Damon added, knowing how much those journals had meant to Stefan when he had remembered living through everything in them.

"I know what I don't want." Stefan countered, "I don't want to be the person in these journals anymore. I don't want to be around people that think I'm going to snap and mass murder the entire town." Elena opened her mouth to protest but Stefan continued before she could get a word out. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna go on a ripper binge. Besides, Caroline said that she's call me every hour to make sure I was okay and Audrey gave me her number and I actually do trust them."

And on that lovely note, Stefan pushed past his brother and ex girlfriend and headed out the study, leaving Elena and Damon speechless until the sound of the front door slamming snapped them out of it.

"I think we just got dumped." Damon said morosely, causing Audrey to scoff despite the gloomy mood in the room

"We need Bonnie." Elena said as she ran her hand through her hair, "Why hasn't she called us back? It's so unlike her. He can't stay like this."

Damon looked over at Audrey and even though she had had at least two bottles of whiskey while he had been gone, the mention of Bonnie seemed to sober her up a bit. "Bonnie can't help us." Audrey said darkly as she looked to the seemingly empty couch seat next to her where she could see Bonnie sitting there, frowning.

"Did you talk to her?" Elena questioned excitedly, not noticing the look on her cousin's face, "What did she say? There's got to be something that she can do. I mean, she'll figure it out. She always does."

"Bonnie's dead, Elena." Damon spoke up and the doppelgänger turned to look at him in shock

"What?"

"I'm sorry, Elena." Audrey said somberly, the alcohol quickly wearing off due to her vampire metabolism, as Elena turned to look at her, "He's telling you the truth. She's dead."

Elena stood still for a moment, tears welling in her eyes, before she sprinted off to her room. Neither Audrey or Damon running after her, knowing it was best to give her some time alone. Audrey got up from the couch, sending a look to Bonnie that said they would talk later before she headed in the direction of the door. Damon watched her as she left but decided to stay behind, seeing that she wasn't in the mood to talk just yet. Instead Damon took a seat on his favorite leather armchair and stared into the fire, thinking about how everything in Mystic Falls was starting to fall apart.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

Yes, yes, I know, I am a terrible, terrible person. I said that would update quickly then everything got out of hand with ACTs, AP Tests, and just school in general. Pretty much I'm getting my ass kicked academically and my writing is suffering because of it. But don't worry, I refuse to ever give up with this story. It may be a bit longer in between updates but the story will go on, trust that. Anyway, please review because I really, really miss reviews ( I only got two reviews on the last chappy :(, but they were still pretty awesome so thank you, any reviews are appreciated). I would like to thank everyone that has favorited, followed, and reviewed as well as just taken time out of your day to read this story. You guys are awesome! Well, I'll stop my rambling now. Please leave a review on the way out. Until next time…

Audrey;D


	8. Monster's Ball

_Disclaimer: After all this time, I still do not own the Vampire Diaries. _

**Chapter Eight-Monster's Ball**

**Audrey's P.O.V**

In the days that followed Bonnie's funeral it seemed as if things were starting to get back to some semblance of normalcy even through the loss of Bonnie had hit everyone hard. Bonnie had told everyone, through Jeremy and I, to move on with their lives and it seemed that, for the most part, everyone was listening to her. Elena and Caroline went back to Whitmore along with Tyler who had gotten back during Bonnie's funeral, Matt had taken extra shifts at the Grill to try and keep himself busy, and Jeremy and I were dealing with the fact that we were the only two that could still actually talk to Bonnie. At the moment I was sitting on my bed Skyping with Aurora, filling her in on everything that had been happening lately while I waited for Damon to get out of the shower.

"So, how are you doing with all of this?" Aurora asked when I had finished filling her in

"I'm fine." I replied with a sigh, "It's not the same for me as it is for everyone else. I can still talk to Bonnie, they can't. Nor have I given up looking for a way to bring her back, if there was a way for her to bring Jeremy back ,then there's a way to get her back."

"Yeah, but you do realize that it cost Bonnie her life to bring Jeremy back?" I didn't reply and Aurora just sighed before moving on, knowing that she wouldn't be able to change my mind, "Well, how is everyone else?"

"Matt, Caroline, and Tyler are keeping themselves busy, trying to get back to their lives like Bonnie wanted." I told her, "As for Elena, I've barely heard from her since the funeral four days ago. She refuses to answer any of my calls and so far I've got one text asking if Damon and I wanted to go to this historical costume ball at Whitmore tonight."

"She's probably just trying to deal with Bonnie's death by herself." Aurora said with a shrug of her shoulders, "And I'm assuming you're going to the ball, right?"

"Yeah, I gotta take any chance to see how she's holding up. Plus Caroline is sorta forcing me to go, through I did only go under the condition that Damon and I could go as Bonnie and Clyde."

"Seems a bit on the nose for you two." Aurora said with a laugh

"I thought it was funny." I replied with a smile as I heard the shower being turned off, "Although it was hard to convince Caroline since that was what she and Tyler were gonna go as. Luckily I told her she should go as Marilyn Monroe and she fell in love with that idea."

"Well, I'm glad you seem to be okay." Aurora said seriously and I nodded in return before I caught a glimpse of Damon walking out of the bathroom shirtless, wearing a pair of tight black jeans. I shamelessly stared at Damon's toned chest as he walked across the room to the closet to grab a shirt, earning a smirk in returned when he caught me watching him. The sound of Aurora clearing her throat caused me to look back down at the screen in time to see her roll her eyes at me, "Hi, Damon."

"Hello, Blondie." Damon replied as he threw on a light grey v-neck

"Well, I gotta go or I'm gonna be late for class. You two have fun tonight." Aurora smiled and I nodded before she logged off. I shut down my computer and set it down on the dresser next to me before getting up and walking over to Damon. I wrapped my arms around his neck, leaning in to kiss him slowly.

"Hey." I smiled after I pulled away

"Hey." Damon repeated, resting his hands on my waist, "What was that for?"

"What, I can't kiss you without having a reason?" I questioned, pulling back slightly, "I mean, if you don't like it I can just go."

"I never said I didn't like it." Damon said with a smirk, tightening his grip on my waist and pulling me flush against him before bringing his lips back to mine. I smiled into the kiss as I moved my hands from around Damon's neck down to the hemline of his shirt, but before I had the chance to pull it off Damon took a hold of my hands, groaning in frustration before pulling back. "I'm really going to regret this."

"What is it?" I asked in confusion, a little worried by the sudden change in mood

"I think I found a way to bring back Bonnie." I felt my eyes widen in shock at Damon's words. I opened my mouth to say something but Damon continued before I could say anything, "Unfortunately we're gonna need Silas's help."

I looked at Damon as if he had lost his mind but after a moment I took a deep breath before agreeing to go along with whatever it was he had planned so I could Bonnie back. While I knew that I would do anything to get back someone I cared about, I also knew that there was no way Silas would work with us without a price and I was certainly not looking forward to finding out what that price was.

* * *

><p>After Damon had completely filled me in on his plan, we met up with Jeremy and Bonnie in the parlor. Jeremy and Bonnie sat next to each other on the couch across from where Damon was standing in front of the fire place while I sat in the arm chair next to him.<p>

"So, as we know, in a psychotic lapse of judgment, Bonnie brought you back to life and died in the process." Damon started as he looked toward Jeremy, not realizing that Bonnie was sitting with him, "May she rest in peace."

"She's actually sitting right here." Jeremy said, pointing to the ghost beside him and I laughed when Bonnie waved hello to Damon even through she knew he couldn't see her.

"Whatever." Damon continued with a roll of his eyes, "Look, the point is, we just so happen to know a supernatural being who wants to die. And, since nature is such a big fan of balance and the whole 'life for a life' thing, it seems like it would be the waste of a perfectly good death."

I watched as Jeremy and Bonnie shared a look of confusion before Jeremy asked, "What are you talking about?"

"Something that Elena doesn't have to hear about until it works." I answered, earning the attention of Bonnie and Jeremy

"Wait." Jeremy started after a minute as he finally figured out what Damon and I were getting at, "You want to work with Silas?"

"As much as it sucks, he's the only one that can help us." I replied with a grimace at the thought of working with Silas, "From the get go his big plan was to kill himself so he could be with his true love, Amara. We just want to use his death to bring you back, Bonnie."

"What make's you think that he would be willing to help at all?" Jeremy questioned, a pretty good question I might add since I was thinking the same thing.

"Just leave that to me." Damon told him with a smirk as he took a seat on the arm of the chair I was sitting in, "Anyway, to die, he has to be mortal. If he's mortal he's a witch, if he dies a witch then he's stuck on the Other Side forever."

"He already tried to bring down the veil to the Other Side." Jeremy reminded us, "He failed."

"Maybe he has a plan B." Bonnie spoke up, "Maybe he wants to do more than just bring down the veil and let all the ghosts out."

I sat in silence for a moment as I thought over what Bonnie was getting at. I guess it was pretty obvious that someone that had been trying to reunite with his true love for the last two thousand years would have at least one back up plan to do so. And it would probably end up being more destructive than the first.

"You guys are aware that I can't here her, right?" Damon's question pulled me out of my thoughts and I found myself forcing back a laugh at his impatience

"Bonnie thinks Silas wants to destroy the Other Side completely." Jeremy filled Damon with a roll of his eyes at the vampire

"Powerful spells are bound by something even more powerful-the moon, a comet, a doppelganger." Bonnie continued, "The Other Side was made two thousand years ago and it still exists. That means whatever Qetsiyah bound the Other Side to has be able to exist just as long."

"Well, we can just add that to the list of things to find out." Damon said with a scowl after I relayed what Bonnie had said, "Back to my original question. Let's say Silas destroys the Other Side, cures himself and becomes a witch. Is it supernaturally possible that he can do a spell that swaps Bonnie's life for his life once he kills himself?"

"Supernaturally, yeah, it's possible but this is the same Silas who murdered my father." Bonnie reminded Jeremy and I as Damon waited for one of us to fill him in on what Bonnie was saying, "He's ruthless, and whatever spell he could do there'll be consequences. There always it. So no. my answer is definitely not."

I leaned back in my chair after Bonnie had finished, looking over at Jeremy as he took a deep breath and looked away from Bonnie. I opened my mouth to let Damon know what Bonnie had said but before I had the chance, Jeremy quickly cut me off by telling Damon "She's in."

"What?" Bonnie snapped as Damon nodded and turned to me for confirmation. Without a thought I smiled and nodded as Bonnie looked at Jeremy and I in shock.

"I assume you have some sort of idea to get Silas to meet with us." I said as I turned to face Damon, feeling slightly guilty for not listening to Bonnie but hoping she would understand why I couldn't let her stay dead if there was a way to bring her back

"Yep." Damon replied as he got to his feet, taking my hand and pulling me up too, "Come on." I sent a look to Jeremy as I followed Damon toward the door, hoping that he would be able to get Bonnie to go along with what we were trying to do for her.

* * *

><p>Damon called Silas as we drove to The Grill where he had decided to meet up with the psychic. Throughout the ride there I remained silent running through a thousand different possibilities of how today could go terribly, terribly wrong. It was true that I would do anything to get Bonnie back to the land of the living but I just couldn't shake what she had said about working with Silas having some serious consequences.<p>

"Earth to Audrey." I blinked and turned to Damon at the sound of my name, noticing for the first time that we were sitting at the bar in The Grill. I really had to work on not zoning out like that. "You okay?"

"Uh, yeah." I said noncommittally as a bartender set two glasses of bourbon in front of us. I grabbed one of the glasses and took a long sip, careful not to meet Damon's eyes.

"Yeah, not buying it." Damon drawled out, "Wanna tell me what's really wrong?"

I set down my glass with a sigh before turning to face Damon, seeing the worry written on his face. "I don't trust Silas, Damon. At all."

"And you think I do?" Damon said with a raised eyebrow before he took a sip of his own drink, "If there was any other way to bring back Bonnie…

"I know." I said, cutting him off, "It doesn't change the fact that it sucks."

"I hope in not interrupting anything." The sound of Silas's voice coming from behind me forced me to turn around to face the Devil himself as he took a seat down next to me. "Actually I don't care seeing as you called me. Speaking of which, why did you call me?"

"Same reason you answered." Damon replied as he leaned forward in his chair, placing a hand on my waist in an attempt to keep me calm, "You need help, and we're gonna help you."

"What makes you think that I need your help?" Silas questioned

"Well, for starters, you're still here, as in, why do you suck so badly at killing yourself?" Damon responded earning only a chuckle in return from Silas as he waved over the bartender to order a drink. When it was clear that Silas wasn't going to say anything, I decided to speak up.

"So we know that the Other Side is bound to something that's able to exist more than two thousand years." I stated and Silas looked up from his drink and back to me, "Any idea what it is?"

"A mystical anchor. That's what binds her spell to the Other Side." Silas reviled, surprising me with his willingness to tell us. I guess he really was desperate. "I want to destroy it. Qetsiyah, or Tessa, or whatever the hell she's calling herself these days, she wants to protect it. So, she's the only person that knows where the anchor is hidden, but fortunately, she will be at the Whitmore Historical Ball this evening."

"Oh really?" Damon asked and Silas nodded in return, "I thought you said you lost all of your psychic powers."

"Oh, I did, but I still have my incredible powers of observations, and I observed her buying a Cleopatra costume today." Silas answered sardonically and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the doppelganger. "So what exactly do you want from me? I can't imagine you two are going to help me out of kindness of your hearts."

"We want you to bring back a friend of ours from the Other Side before you destroy it." I told him, waiting for a response but getting none, "So do we have a deal?"

"Well, we have half a deal." Silas said before taking a sip of his drink, "I'm resurrecting some witch with my death, but we have yet to discuss how you're helping me."

"Well, you've yet to tell us what you want." Damon countered

"Oh, it's fairly simple, actually." Stiles began with a smirk, "I want you to kill Stefan."

"Excuse me?" I questioned, hoping I had misheard the doppelganger

"Not permanently of course." Silas continued, taking in mine and Damon's shocked faces, "Just snap his neck so the connection between us will be broken long enough for me to get into Tessa's head and find the location of the anchor."

"Or I could find the location of the anchor since I actually have all my psychic abilities at the moment." I suggested trying to find a way around hurting Stefan

"You've been a psychic for what, two years?" Silas questioned, "Well, I've been practicing for two thousand years, I think the odds are in my favor here. Plus, I need some leverage in this deal. So are you in or not?"

I turned to face Damon, trying to figure out what he wanted to do seeing as I had no idea, to see that he was glaring at Silas who I was sure was smirking back at him. I set my hand on Damon's arm, pulling his attention away from the psychotic psychic to me. "We're in." Damon replied rather reluctantly, keeping his eyes on me.

"Good." Silas replied as he got out of his chair, "Then I will be seeing you both tonight."

I turned to watch Silas walk out of the Grill, feeling dread wash over me at the thought of what had to be done tonight.

* * *

><p>By the time Damon and I made it to Whitmore fully dressed in our Bonnie and Clyde attire, the Historical Ball was already in full swing. I scanned the room for any sign of Qetsiyah but it looked as if she hadn't shown up yet.<p>

"I'm not seeing a Cleopatra look-a-like in here anywhere." I told Damon as I turned back to face him

"Me either." Damon replied, "Or Stefan. But I do see a very lonely looking Elena standing by the stairs." I followed his line of sight to see Elena standing in her Anne Boleyn costume seeming to be looking for someone in the crowd. "Go ahead. I know how much you want to talk to her. I'll keep an eye out for the Witch Bitch."

"Thank you." I said and Damon nodded in return before I headed in the direction of Elena. When I got to Elena she had her back turned to me as she looked for whoever it was she was looking for. "Well, if it isn't Lady Anne Boleyn." Elena whipped around at the name, calming down when she realized that it was just me.

"And if it isn't miss Bonnie Parker." Elena greeted halfheartedly, refusing to look me in the eye as she continued to look around the room, albeit not as obviously as she had before

"Two women that were met with a rather unfortunate demise." I said, trying to get Elena's attention. When Elena just nodded but didn't stop her search I sighed before asking "So, are you going to tell me why you've been avoiding me for the last four days or not?"

"I haven't been avoiding you." Elena tried to brush off, finally looking my way

"You texted me once and refused to answer any of my calls, all of which point to avoidance." I said watching her shoulders fall at my words, "So what's the problem."

"Bonnie died three months ago, and we were so busy having the summer of our lives that we didn't even notice." Elena started and I looked down knowing exactly what she was feeling,.Guilt. Something I'd been feeling since Jeremy told me about Bonnie. "And I know that it's not my fault that Bonnie's dead, but it is my fault that I didn't figure it out sooner."

"Listen, Elena. If anyone should have figured out what happened to Bonnie, it should have been me." I assured my cousin but, as I expected she didn't show any sign of agreeing with me, determined to take the blame herself. While I had been talking, Elena went back to her search and if the length of time she was spending starring in the same direction she had found what she was looking for.

"I should have figured it out. I know it's not the same thing ,but I'm not going to let Megan's death fall through the cracks too." Elena told me and I finally got fed up and turned around to see what it was Elena was looking at and saw a guy about our age wearing one of those super classy black tee shirts with the tuxedo pattern printed on it.

"Who is he?" I asked

"It's Megan's hometown friend." Elena replied, "I.e. the latest person of interest in the Whitmore mystery. I'll be right back."

I bit my lip as I watched Elena walk over to the guy, knowing that she was using her roommates mysterious death to keep her mind off of Bonnie, which was anything but healthy. Then again, I was the one that as trying to bring Bonnie back to life so I guess I really wasn't the poster child for healthy mourning. I turned back and was about to head back to Damon when I noticed none other than Qetsiyah standing at the bar next to a slightly confused looking Stefan.

"I owe you an 'I'm sorry' drink." I heard Qetsiyah say with a flirtatious smile as I headed toward them. Before I made it there Damon appeared next to Stefan with a "More like an I'm sorry keg." to the witch before pulling Stefan into the crowd, undoubtedly to make the doppelganger switch. I took this opportunity to see if I could get anything from Qetsiyah before Silas had the chance.

"Two shots of tequila." I told the bartender as I took Stefan's place at the bar. When the shots were set in front of me I slid one toward Qetsiyah, "Here you go."

"If you're looking for Clyde, he went that way." She replied, rolling her eyes as she pointed in the direction Damon had gone.

"Hey, I just thought that I would give you a peace offering for trying to kill you the other day." I told her with a forced smile which quickly dropped when I made eye contact with her and ordered, "Now drink your shot and play nice." I smirked as Qetsiyah did as I said and slammed her drink. "Good, at least I know I can influence you. So, _Tessa, _where exactly can I find this mystical anchor to the Other Side?"

"I don't know." Qetsiyah answered mechanically, causing my eyebrows to furrow in confusion

"I thought you were the one that created it." I countered before downing my own shot

"I did, but the Travelers hid it from me after they killed me." She clarified, "They move it constantly."

"Then why are you here?" It's not as if I ever thought that the anchor that controlled the fate of the Other Side would be located anywhere near Whitmore, but there had to be some reason a two thousand year old witch bothered to come to a historical ball.

"My pendant is in one of these displays." Qetsiyah answered, still in her daze, "It's a magical talisman that enhances my power. I need it so I can do a locator spell to find the anchor."

"Then I shouldn't keep you from it." I replied with another forced smile, "Forget we ever had this conversation and carry on."

I moved into the crowd and did my best to blend in and keep out of Qetsiyah's sight . Almost immediately after I left, I felt my phone vibrate and pulled it out to see a new text from Damon telling me that Silas was on the loose.I looked up from my phone and wasn't the least bit surprised to find Silas standing where I had been moments earlier.

_Got him. You stay with Stef. I'll keep an eye on the power couple._

I sent my reply and put my phone in the waistband of my skirt before turning my attention back to Silas and Qetsiyah, waiting for any sign that Qetsiyah found the location of the anchor, taking me one step closer to bringing Bonnie back.

* * *

><p><strong>Third Person P.O.V<strong>

After nearly an hour of flirting and dancing between the former couple, Silas realized that Qetsiyah didn't know nearly as much about the anchor as he had been led to believe and compelled her to continue on her search for her pendant. The witch did as she had been told and walked through the crowd into one of the vacant rooms filled with numerous artifacts that were to be displayed over the rest of the school year, completely unaware of the psychic vampire that was keeping tabs on her. It didn't take long for Qetsiyah to find the pendant that she had been separated from for the better part of two millennia. She smiled as she removed it from the display, finally being reunited with the one thing on Earth that could give her the power to crush Silas once and for all. As Qetsiyah began chanting her locator spell, she saw who she believed to be Stefan Salvatore walk into the room.

"Stefan, come to watch the show?" Qetsiyah said with a smile to the wrong doppelganger

"What are you doing?" Silas asked instead, continuing to play dumb so he could get the information he needed from his psychotic ex-fiancée

"I'm using this pendant to find something I'm looking for." The witch explained, smiling as she finished her spell, "And I just found it."

"Well that's all I needed to hear." Qetsiyah spun around at the sound of Audrey's voice but had little time to react before the psychic sent her soaring across the room, pining her against the back wall with her telekinesis. Audrey made sure to add extra pressure to the witch's throat so she had no chance of chanting any sort of spell. Audrey crossed her arms across her chest, keeping her eyes on Qetsiyah while she addressed Silas."I would hurry if I were you. I can keep her here all day but I can only keeping from talking for so long before she suffocates."

Silas rolled his eyes at Audrey but went to work trying to find the location of the anchor. He had just found it when a searing pain ripped through his head, causing him to yell out in pain and drop to his knees as he clutched his head in his hands.

"What's going on?" Audrey questioned, unable to look away from the witch, needing to keep her focus on Qetsiyah so she didn't have a chance to escape before Silas got what they needed. Audrey was so wrapped up in keeping her trapped that she didn't notice that Stefan had entered the room until he snapped her neck.

"Unless you haven't figured it out yet, that's Silas." Stefan told Qetsiyah, who fell to the ground as soon as Audrey has been taken care of and was now taking in deep breaths, trying to fill her burning lungs. Stefan turned to his doppelganger and swiftly punched him in the face before taking back his daylight ring. "He's working with Audrey and Damon. Everything he said was a lie."

As Qetsiyah got back to her feet Stefan sent one last look toward Audrey before walking out of the room, disappointed that one of the only people he trusted had managed to betray him so quickly.

"That's all he ever does…lie." Qetsiyah spat at Silas as she walked over to him, "You know where the anchor is. Too bad you won't be around to find it."

Silas felt the pain in his head intensify as Qetsiyah began chanting another spell and couldn't stop the groan that escaped him. He quickly composed himself and smirked at the witch as he stood up. "You can't kill me." He taunted Qetsiyah but it didn't seem to faze her at all, "You love me. You know you love me."

"I did love you." Qetsiyah corrected as she took another step toward Silas, "And then you broke my heart. Now, I'm gonna break yours." Qetsiyah's hand shot forward into Silas's chest, Silas groaned in pain once more and Qetsiyah smiled in satisfaction as she held his heart in her hand. "Or at least stop it from working so your blood can't flow and your veins dry up and you rot from the inside out so the world can see you as you are. A cold, grey, hideous monster." Throughout Qetsiyah's speech, veins popped up all over Silas's skin moments before he turned an ashy grey. The witch sighed in relief as Silas's motionless body fell to the ground and she took a moment to look at the two unconscious, immortal psychics around her. She let a small smile of victory grace her lips as she walked out of the room.

* * *

><p><strong>Audrey's P.O.V<strong>

The painful throbbing I felt in my neck as I woke up made it clear that my neck had, once again, been snapped. I laid still for a moment trying to remember who had one it but realized that whoever it was must have come up from behind me while I was watching Qetsiyah. I rolled over on to my back, groaning as pain shot up and down my spine as I moved.

"I see that Stefan got to you too." I opened my eyes at the sound of Damon's voice and saw that he was standing over me.

"I didn't see him but I'm gonna go with yes." I told him as I jumped to my feet, rubbing my sore neck as it continued to heal. "Guess I'm on his hate list now."

"This is a problem for another day." Damon said as he looked past me and I turned around to see what was behind be, seeing the lifeless body of Silas laying on the ground.

"Come on." I groaned. After everything we had gone through to get the location of this stupid anchor and now the only person willing enough to help us find it was in some sort of unconscious state.

"Oh my, God." I looked away from Silas and turned to a shocked Elena who was making her way into the room. "Stefan?"

"That aint Stefan." Damon corrected her without so much as looking away from his brothers doppelganger.

"What? Silas? Damn it. What the hell is going on?" Elena asked as she nervously ran a hand through her hair

"Looks like Tessa had her way with him." Damon guessed

"So, if that's Silas, then he's not a problem anymore." Elena said, "This is a good thing, right?"

"Actually, no." I replied watching confusion dance across Elena's face, "It's a very, very bad thing."

* * *

><p>A few hours later saw Damon, Elena, and I back at the boarding house parlor with an out of commission Silas taking up the couch. I had filled Elena in on most of the plan to get Bonnie back, sans the part where Damon broke Stefan's neck, and she, surprisingly enough, seemed okay with the idea of working with Silas as long as she got her friend back. In turn, Elena told Damon and I all about Professor Maxfield and what he had told her.<p>

"So Professor Blondie knows about vampires?" Damon asked Elena as he handed her a glass of bourbon, handing me one as well as Elena answered

"He said that if I don't drop out of school, the wrong people are gonna start asking the right questions." She clarified as I took a sip of my drink

"Well, that definitely doesn't sound good." I said, setting my drink down on the coffee table, leaning back before asking, "What are you gonna do?"

"I don't know." Elena sighed as she looked down at the drink in her hands, "But all I do know is that figuring out what happened to Megan isn't gonna bring Bonnie back."

"Yeah, well, neither is a desiccated Silas in our living room." Damon added after he downed his own bourbon

"So, the only way for Silas to trade his life for Bonnie's is if he's a witch, but the only way for him to be a witch is to have the cure." Elena recapped as she leaned forward in her seat

"Yep." I replied curtly, smirking as I heard a knock at the door, "Now I wonder who that could be."

Elena watched as Damon walked over to the door, her eyes widening when she saw Katherine standing on the other side.

"What's so urgent?" Katherine snapped at Damon as she pushed past him, "Don't exactly have time for a pit stop." I got to my feet as Katherine slowed, taking in Silas's body as she walked into the parlor. "Or maybe I do. Maybe I have all the time in the world. Katherine Pierce eludes death once again. And you three finally did something right for once. How does it feel?"

"Thrilling." Katherine faltered at Damon's tone and turned to face him, paling at the look he was giving her.

"Damon, no." Katherine pleaded, taking a step backwards, away from Damon. Unfortunately for Katherine, human life had left her slow and Damon had no trouble vamp running forward and grabbing her by the shoulder.

"He needs the cure to become a witch." Damon told her with a shrug as Katherine struggled, in vain, to free herself. Damon sunk his teeth into her neck, drawing blood, before he began pushing her toward Silas.

"No, Damon. No, no, please! He needs all of my blood. It'll kill me." Katherine cried out and I had to admit, even I felt a little bad for the vampire turned human that had been a constant pain in my ass for the last two years. "I don't want to die, Damon. Please."

"Goodbye, Katherine." Damon said before forcing Katherine to Silas, holding her down as she continued to struggle while Silas began to drink her blood. The grey began to fade as he continued to feed on Katherine and Damon let go of the doppelganger as her ability to fight back died down. It only took a few more seconds before she stopped fighting all together and her body feel to the floor. Before anyone had the chance to celebrate the loss of Katherine Pierce, a very faint thumping noise filled the room.

"Do you guys hear that?" I questioned, hoping that I was just imagining the sound. Not that I was ever that lucky.

"You have got to be kidding me." Elena groaned as she too heard the sound of Katherine's heart fight to keep beating.

"Takes a licking, keeps on ticking." Damon said moments before Katherine's eyes shot open and her breathing picked up speed. She moaned in pain before she looked over to Damon, Elena, and I.

"Am I in Hell?"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

**Why hello again my wonderful readers. Sorry I've been away for so long but life has been hectic (when isn't it). I should be able to write a lot more now that schools out so updates should be a bit more frequent then they have been lately. I hope you guys are enjoying the story and please do leave a review if you do. Remember, reviews are what keep me writing this fic and without them my muse runs off. I write this for all my lovely readers so let me know what you think. I have a lot of interesting things planned for the rest of this fic so I hope you'll stay around. Until next time...**

**Audrey;D**


	9. Handle With Care

**Chapter Nine- Handle With Care**

**Audrey's P.O.V**

The day after the Historical Ball, I sat in the parlor alone, reading near the fireplace. Silas had left after he had gotten the cure from Katherine and now it was just a waiting game until he called Damon and I so we could go and find the anchor. It was a rarity that I ever got more than five minutes of downtime in this town so I was enjoying every minute I could get of it. As I got to the end of the second chapter of my book, I heard footsteps and I looked up to see Damon walking toward me.

"About time." I sassed with a smile as I looked back down at my book

"And good morning to you too." Damon replied sardonically, taking a seat next to me on the couch, "How long have you been up?"

"An hour." I answered as I continued to read. As I was about to turn the page, Damon wrapped his arms around my waist and readjusted us so I was sitting in his lap as we lounged across the couch. I smiled, setting my bock down, before leaning back and resting my head on his shoulder. I let my eyes close as we sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes just listening to the sound of the fire burning behind us. "This is nice. Quiet, still, peaceful. I like our life when it's like this."

"Hmm. But it is our life." Damon countered, pressing a kiss against my neck before adding, "Which probably means that someone is going to walk through that door and shatter it."

"No." I groaned as I rolled over in Damon's arms so I could face him, "Don't say that."

"In 10...9..." Damon started counting down with a smirk

"Come on, Damon. Today is the day we're getting Bonnie back." I told Damon, interrupting his countdown. "It's a good day."

"…6...5..." Damon continued his countdown, not at all deterred by what I said

"Why can't we just enjoy the moment?" I questioned in annoyance as I wrapped my arms around Damon's neck. Damon began kissing my forehead in between his countdown, it wasn't until he got to two that I leaned forward, catching his lips with mine and effectively silencing him. Before I had a chance to go any further, the front door swung open, causing me to jump back and turn around to see Silas walk in.

"Greetings, frenemies!" Silas announced, entering the room as I heard Damon reach one in his countdown. I got to my feet as Silas walked into the parlor and watched as he used his newly returned magic to pull back the curtain, not really impressive but as long as he wasn't hurting anyone, whatever. "Ah. You know, only a few hours into my old life as a witch, but somehow, the sun feels warmer." Silas continued as he walked past Damon and I and over to the window. "Probably because I'm not forced to outlive it anymore."

"What's with the home invasion, Silas?" Damon barked as he got up from the couch

"Well, Damon." Silas began as he turned from the window to face us again, "After two thousand years of a miserable existence, I finally get to die."

"Yeah, and get reunited with your one true love, Amara. We've been through this already, Silas." I said, crossing my arms across my chest as Silas turned his attention to me. "Look, we held up our side of the deal, it's your turn now."

"You don't trust me?" Silas smirked

"You spent the last two thousand years manipulating people to get what you want." Damon pointed out, "It's not that much of a stretch to think you would do it again."

"So no." I added, "We don't trust you."

"Do you want me to pinky swear?" Silas asked sarcastically and it took everything I had not to slap the smug look off of his face. "Look, I just want to want to destroy the Other Side so I don't get stuck in that pit of a purgatory when I finally do kill myself. Before I do that, I'll bring Bonnie back. And, being the amazing and incredible and all-powerful witch I am, I can totally do both things. I just have to find the anchor first and destroy it."

"Okay, Mr. All-powerful witch, where is it?" I questioned the former immortal

"New Jersey."

"New Jersey?" Damon scoffed, "The supernatural other world is bound by an object in Snooki's back yard?"

"It's in a stockyard and it's being shipped out soon, so we really need to…" Silas stopped at the sound of approaching footsteps and I turned to see Elena and Jeremy walk into the room, the latter holding a crossbow pointed at Silas. "Hello, Doppelganger, Hunter. Banner day for you, huh Jeremy? You and the Bennett witch used to be close, right?"

"Shut it, Silas!" I snapped at I turned back toward him

"It's okay, Jer." Elena attempted to calm Jeremy down enough so he would put down his crossbow. "We all want the same thing. Silas dead and Bonnie alive."

"Aka, put down the damn crossbow, Pocahontas." Damon added in frustration but Jeremy kept his crossbow aimed at Silas

"We're just supposed to believe that he's going to bring Bonnie back out of the goodness of his heart?" Jeremy questioned

"Well, I hope not. I mean, I am kind of a monster." Silas said with another smirk which disappeared when Jeremy continued to aim his crossbow at Silas. "You know guys, I'm feeling a little ganged up on right now. Okay? I would hate to lose my temper and do something…crazy" Silas continued as he lifted his hand, fire beginning to shoot out of his fingers as he did so. Okay so maybe that was mildly impressive. "Man, I really love being a witch again. I feel like I'm constantly reinventing myself. I'm like a supernatural Madonna, don't you think?"

I rolled my eyes at Silas before turning back to Jeremy, holding my hand out towards him and watching as the crossbow flew out of his hands into mine. I looked back at Silas and set it down on the table next to me. "Happy?"

"Ecstatic." Silas replied sarcastically before looking at the time on the grandfather clock as Jeremy and Elena made there way toward Damon and I. "All right. We gotta get going. Jeremy, you grab a crowbar, or four, from the garage."

"What for?" Jeremy asked as Silas started walking toward the door, rather than flat out refusing like I figured he would do

"Does it matter?" Silas questioned as Jeremy, Damon, Elena, and I followed after him. Silas stopped at the still open door when he saw Elena and added, "You are not going. Useful people only."

"Are you serious?" Elena said to Silas before turning to me, "He's not serious."

"Actually, I'm a hundred percent serious." Silas answered before I had a chance to say anything, "You're a freaky carbon copy of my one true love, Amara. You can understand why I don't want to stare at her impostor face all day."

"That makes no sense." Damon spoke up from next to me

"It would make complete sense if you were ever in love with somebody that looked exactly like her." Silas countered and I had to bite back a laugh at that. Silas looked between me and Damon, his smirk returning once again. "You have though, haven't you, Damon? I definitely would not have put you with Katherine with the whole 'fated doppelganger love' business. I'm sure it didn't end well for you."

"This is ridiculous." Elena burst out, silencing Silas while Damon and I glared at him, "We're bringing my best friend back from the dead. I'm going." I watched as Silas's expression turned from amusement to annoyance and saw him lift his hand, turning to see the crossbow moving to aim at Elena. Just before the crossbow shot off the arrow it was holding, I forced it to spin ninety degrees, the arrow flying into the side of the fireplace.

"Well, you're no fun." Silas drawled as he starred at the arrow for a moment before turning his attention back to me, "Look, it's simple, the doppelganger stays or I leave and you can forget all about getting the Bennett witch back." With that Silas walked out of the boarding house, already knowing what we would choose.

"Elena…" I started as looked back to my cousin

"I get it, Audrey." Elena quickly cut me off, "You don't really have a choice. Just…get Bonnie back, okay." I nodded at Elena, sighing before I turned around to face Jeremy and Damon.

"Well, boys, guess it's time for another road trip."

* * *

><p>Okay, so maybe 'road trip' was a bit far fetched. I had to admit that, after only an hour or so in the car with Silas, this trip felt more like prolonged torture. No one had said a word since we left the Boarding House and I felt myself slowly loosing my mind at the silence. And if that wasn't enough, something that Silas had said back in Mystic Falls kept repeating in my head on a loop and I couldn't figure out what it meant.<p>

"Okay, I give up." I started, breaking the unbearable silence and causing Jeremy to send me a weird look from where he sat next to me in the back of Silas's SUV. "As much as I hate the sound of your voice, Silas, I have to ask. What the hell did you mean when you said 'fated doppelganger love?"

"Qetsiyah didn't tell you?" Silas questioned with a laugh, "I'm surprised. It's usually the first thing she tells people."

"Seeing as the two times we've been anywhere near her she's tried to kill us or we've tried to use her, I'm gonna say no." Damon answered the doppelganger with a roll of his eyes," How about you save us the suspense and just tell us."

"Well you already know that nature loves its balance and because Amara and I were unkillable there had to be versions of us that we killable." Silas began as he kept his eyes on the road. "But apparently that wasn't enough and ,for years, our doppelgangers have been drawn to each other. Always the same story, love conquers all yada yada yada. Destiny has been trying to get our doppelgangers together forever."

"It's when you say things like that, that I remember what a psychopath you are." I replied after I let it sink in for a minute, "I mean, you do realize how crazy that sounds, right?"

"You are honestly going to say that destiny isn't bringing the doppelgangers together after all you've seen with Stefan and Elena?" Silas asked, sending a smirk my way through the rearview mirror

Before I had a chance to deny Silas's insane reasoning, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I sighed when I pulled it out and saw that Elena was already calling me. We'd only been gone for an hour, how far did she think we had gotten? "Yes, Elena?" I answered, leaning back in my seat as I waited for her reply.

"He's with Tessa." Elena said. I guess it shouldn't have really surprised me in the slightest that Elena wanted to talk about Stefan. "Why does he keep going back to her?"

"Maybe cause he doesn't remember how much of a crazy bitch she is." I suggested hearing Silas chuckle at my response.

"Wait. You didn't tell Elena what we did to Stefan?" Silas asked with feigned innocence

"Tell me what?" Elena questioned me, clearly hearing Silas. I swear vampire hearing was going to be the death of me one day.

"Well, Silas sort of needed his psychic juju to get into Tessa's head and the only way to temporarily reactivate his abilities was to break Stefan's neck." I explained to Elena, waiting for her to blow up on me.

"A few times." Damon added and I shot him a look asking if that was really necessary for that addition.

"As if he didn't hate us enough." Elena snapped at me, "God, I'm going over there."

"She really should. Tessa's bad news." Silas said, sarcasm dripping from every word

"No. Just let Stefan have his space." Damon spoke up from the passengers seat, "It's like you said, he's already mad enough."

"Sounds like he's more mad at you and Audrey. Maybe he and I can find some common ground." With that, Elena hung up on me and I looked down at my phone in annoyance for a few seconds before I shoved it back in my pocket.

As the maddening silence returned to the car once again, I turned to look out the window to the scenery passing by. Though the silence lasted less then a second before Silas spoke up again.

"Knock, knock." Silas started and I just rolled my eyes as I continued to look out the window, doing my best to ignore him. Damon and Jeremy seemed to be doing the same thing but it didn't deter Silas at all. "Who's there? The mayor? The mayor who?" Silas waited for someone to respond to him and I was a bit surprised when Damon broke down first.

"Well, who?" Damon asked sounding as if he was ready to rip Silas's head off at any second, and, in all honestly, he probably was.

"No one!" Silas finished excitedly, "That's the joke. No one's there because I killed the mayor."

"You're a dick." Jeremy remarked unamused as I slammed my forehead on the window, thinking that the silence was probably more enjoyable than hearing Silas's voice.

* * *

><p>I let out a sigh of relief when we finally got to the warehouse. After nearly seven hours in the car with Silas, I was about ready to rip out his tongue and throw it out the window. Honestly, the only reason he was still breathing was because he was going to bring Bonnie back, but even with that, it was still really hard not to just kill him.<p>

"Thank God." Damon said what everyone was thinking as we got out of the car

"Okay, I gotta ask." I started as the four of us made our way to the back entrance, "Do you really believe in all of this doppelganger prophecy crap, Silas?"

"Crap?" Silas repeated in confusion, "What do you mean 'crap'? Do you not notice the universe trying to mirror my love for Amara by bringing our doppelgangers together?"

"You do realize that by destroying the Other Side, you are personally moving Heaven and Earth to be together." Damon scoffed as he stopped in front of the locked door, "That's not fate, you idiot. That's you being a crazy person." I did my best to hold back a laugh as Damon grabbed hold of the door handle and twisted it until it broke off.

Silas rolled his eyes before pushing past Damon into the warehouse, Jeremy, Damon and I following after him. As we walked further into the warehouse I looked over rows upon rows of boxes holding God only knows what, wondering where the anchor could be hidden amongst all this junk.

"Okay." Jeremy spoke up from next to me, "Where is this stupid anchor thing?"

"I have no idea." Silas said offhandedly. I really hoped I had misheard him but it was clear by the looks on Damon and Jeremy's faces that I hadn't. Fantastic. "Give me some credit, guys. I did psychically dive into Tessa's mind to find see this specific warehouse."

"What does it look like?" Jeremy questioned hoping for any information that would make finding the anchor easier. But this was our life so of course this wasn't the case.

"Again, I have no idea. Tessa created it after she locked me away in a tomb for two thousand years and left to me to starve." Silas explained as he grabbed a crowbar from Jeremy, "Remember? Remote island. Creepy hallucinations." As Silas continued he began walking down the first row of crates. "It binds a spell to a supernatural hell dimension. I doubt it's gonna look like a freaking IKEA sink."

Silas started working on the first crate, busting off the top before looking inside. I shrugged at the looks Damon and Jeremy were giving me before moving over to the next row of crates to start looking for the anchor.

* * *

><p>After making my way through four rows of utterly useless boxes, I was really starting to doubt Silas's 'all-mighty' powers. For all we knew the travelers had already shipped out the anchor and this entire trip was a gigantic waste of time that would put us right back to square one. I decided to move towards the other side of the warehouse, seeing as the boys seemed to have the back under control. I stopped around the middle of the warehouse, turning into yet another row full of crates, when I heard what sounded like someone talking a few rows down.<p>

_Where am I?_

I already knew that I was to far away from Damon, Silas, and Jeremy for it to be any of them. Plus whoever it was who had spoken didn't sound anything like them. I walked back into the aisle and slowly walked toward where I had heard the sound coming from.

_What's going on?_

From the sound of it, I was getting close to whoever was here. I looked down the rows as I past them but didn't find anyone, nor could I hear anyone walking around. Just as I was about to pull a total girl in a horror movie move and call out to whoever was there, I felt an arm grab onto my shoulder. I spun around and came face to face with Damon, who was holding his hands up in surrender.

"You have to stop doing that!" I snapped at Damon, taking a deep breath to calm myself down. I looked over my shoulder to make sure that no one was back there, but whoever I had heard earlier was no where to be found. I turned back to face Damon and as soon as I looked back at him I knew something was wrong. "What is it?"

"We have a problem."

* * *

><p>I paced back and forth as Damon explained what Tessa had told him to me and Jeremy while we stood outside near the car. Apparently Elena had gone over to Tessa's cabin to talk to Stefan and, thanks to a boundary spell from Silas, was now trapped there until sunset. And as if that wasn't enough, Tessa was threatening to kill her if we didn't kill Silas before then.<p>

"We can't kill Silas." Jeremy started as soon as Damon had finished filling us in, "Silas is the only one that can bring Bonnie back and he's not going to do that until right before he destroys the Other Side."

"Yeah, well, Tessa wants to do it now." Damon countered from where he was leaning against the door. "Something tells me patience isn't her strong suit."

"Audrey." I stopped pacing and turned to face Jeremy when he called my name, "You promised. You promised that you would bring Bonnie back."

"Damon could you give us a minute." I kept my eyes on Jeremy, waiting until I heard Damon go back into the warehouse before I continued. "Jeremy I know what I promised but what do you want me to do? I want Bonnie back more than anyone , but if I bring her back then Elena will die." I sighed as I turned away from Jeremy and headed toward the door. "The plan's off Jeremy, Bonnie's not coming. I'm sorry."

* * *

><p>I had been roaming around the warehouse for the last five minutes looking for Damon so we could figure out how to kill Silas. Unfortunately I hadn't been able to find him and was beginning to worry that he had decided to off Silas himself, which would probably end terribly. As I was nearing the far side of the warehouse I heard what sounded like chanting, which ,of course, could only mean one thing. Freaking Travelers.<p>

I vamp ran toward the sound, stopping at the edge of one of the rows of crates, looking around the corner first to make sure I didn't run head first into a trap. By the looks of it, Damon had already beaten me to the punch. Damon stood between two travelers who were focused on whatever the hell they were chanting. As Traveler one and two continued there creepy chanting, I heard the sound of something sizzling and, from how quickly he stepped out of the sun light that was shining through the window next to him, I guessed that it was the sound of Damon's skin.

"Why do you witches always go for the daylight ring?" Damon hissed before running forward and shoving his hand into Traveler number one's chest. While both travelers were preoccupied, one with chanting and the other with, well, dying, I ran up behind the chanting traveler unnoticed and caught sight of the knife he was holding in his hand. Without looking away from the traveler in front of him, Damon continued. "I was about to do your euro-tribe a favor. I want to kill Silas too."

"That's the problem. We don't want Silas dead yet." The Traveler I was standing behind explained, stopping his chanting. Strange, I thought the Traveler agenda pretty much comprised of killing Silas. Guess I can add that to the long list of supernatural mysteries I never thought I would have to deal with. Damon ripped out the first Travelers heart, throwing it and the Traveler's body to the ground before turning around to face the other, smirking when he saw me standing behind the euro-douche.

"Yeah, that really doesn't work for us." I spoke up, causing the Traveler to spin around only for me to grab the knife from his hand and shove it into his chest. "Oops." I added as his lifeless body fell to the ground.

"These Travelers are really starting to piss me off." Damon said as he wiped off the Traveler's blood off of his hand

"You and me both." I replied as I looked out the window we were standing next to, seeing that the sun was beginning to set. "Come on. We don't have a lot of time." I told Damon before turning back into the maze of crates to find Silas.

* * *

><p>I swear if I never saw another crate for the rest of my unnatural life I would be overjoyed. Damon and I had spent the last twenty minutes following a trail of destroyed boxes but had yet to find any sign of Silas. As we continued our search, I felt my phone vibrate and didn't even bother to look at the screen before answering it.<p>

"What?" I snapped

"Is he dead yet?" Tessa's voice greeted, or more like assaulted, me and I couldn't stop myself from rolling my eyes at her bored tone.

"There you are." I heard Damon say and I turned to see that Jeremy had joined us. As Damon continued, he threw a crowbar to Jeremy which the hunter easily caught. "Man up. We're under attack."

"No, he's not dead yet." I replied to Tessa as I looked through more empty rows. "Damon was just attacked by your inbred cousins. Any idea why Travelers, who, last time I checked, hated Silas, would want to keep him alive?"

"They probably want his blood." Tessa answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Silas drank the cure from Katherine. Now his blood is the cure."

"Still not seeing the connection here, Qetsiyah." I sighed in frustration, "It's not like they're immortal. So why the hell would they want the cure?"

"Think about it, Audrey." Tessa said, "The Travelers aren't fans of immortality. I had to bind the Other Side to something, something that would last forever. Something that Silas couldn't destroy."

"What? His favorite childhood sled?" I stopped in my tracks as Damon mocked Tessa, realizing exactly what she meant.

"Something a little closer to his heart." Tessa explained as Damon and Jeremy stopped where they were, noticing that I had stopped moving. "two thousand years old, immortal, indestructible. Figure it out."

I stood in shock a few moments after Tessa hung up, unable to believe the lengths she had gone to to make sure that Silas would never be happy. I had dealt with a number of psychopaths the last few years but she definitely took first place.

"No way." Damon stated as he came to the same conclusion I had. "Not possible."

"What?" Jeremy questioned, unsure of what was going on since he hadn't heard most of the conversation

"Tessa's a psychotic genius." I replied, only confusing Jeremy more

"Two thousand years old, immortal, indestructible." Damon added in hopes of clearing things up a bit. "The anchor isn't a thing. It's a person."

"More specifically _the_ person." I added, shaking myself out of my stupor. "The one person Silas is doing this for. Tessa never killed Amara."

* * *

><p>I stood alone somewhere in the godforsaken warehouse, listening intently for anything that could help me find Silas or Amara. Damon and Jeremy had tried for the more direct approach and had continued on looking for Silas through the endless rows of crates. Luckily I had gotten a call from Elena moments before sunset saying that Stefan had helped her escape from Tessa's cabin, so that was two less doppelgangers to deal with. After a few minutes of only hearing Damon and Jeremy moving around at the other end of the warehouse, I heard someone talking back toward where we had come in, following the sound. As I got closer to the door, I heard more and more bodiless voices coming from outside.<p>

_Help me._

_What's going on?_

_What's happening?_

"Stop talking." I heard what sounded like Elena order from outside and bolted out of the warehouse toward yet another doppelganger. "Leave me alone. Please, just leave me alone." I spotted Amara wandering around near Silas's car, surrounded by a group of people, scratch that, ghosts who were reaching out to grab her as she did her best to avoid them. I quickly texted Damon and Jeremy to meet me outside before running the rest of the distance, stopping right in front of Amara.

"Back off." I snapped at the ghosts around Amara, watching in amusement as they all vanished, leaving a terrified looking doppelganger in their wake.

"Are you real?" Amara squeaked out in fear, backing away from me

"If by 'real' you mean alive and kicking…" I started as I walked toward Amara, using her fear of me to force her toward Silas's SUV. "I guess that depends on your definition of alive."

"How could you see them?" Amara asked as she looked around for more ghosts

"It's a long story. Maybe I'll tell you later." I replied, watching as she bumped into the car. I heard the sound of two pairs of footsteps coming our way, Amara's eyes widening in fear as she realized she was trapped and outnumbered.

"Now what?" I heard Jeremy ask from behind me but I decided to keep my eyes on Amara. "She's the anchor to the Other Side so it's not like we can just leave her stranded in Jersey by herself."

"You're asking the wrong question Mini Gilbert." Damon drawled. "You shouldn't be asking whether or not we leave her alone but why she's alone in the first place. If Silas spent two thousand years obsessing over his fated love, then where the hell is he?"

"Where is he, Amara?" I questioned the doppelgänger

"I couldn't be immortal another day." Amara explained as she looked toward the ground. "And he told me that his blood was the cure."

"So you drained him." I summed up and her silence was all the confirmation I needed.

"Well, if he's anything like Katherine we'll see him again." Damon pointed out

"Sooner rather than later. We have something he wants." I added before addressing Amara once more. "Sorry but you're coming with us. Get in the car and don't make a sound."

Oh the benefits of good old fashioned compulsion. I kept my attention focused on the doppelganger as she turned, opened the car door, and got in without saying thing. I slammed the door behind her before turning to the boys.

"So...who else wants to get the hell out of Jersey?"

* * *

><p><em>Why am I here?<em>

_I can't be dead._

_Who are you?_

Since we had gotten back to the boarding house it had been a constant string of ghosts floating around Amara where she was locked down in the basement. I was sitting on the couch in the living room doing the best that I could to ignore the sound of all the dead people in our cellar. Honestly I was starting to feel bad for Amara, I had only been listening to these guys for the last hour or so and I already wanted to rip my hair out, she had been dealing with this for the better part of two thousand year. No wonder she was a bit crazy. I hadn't occurred to me that I had, once again, completely zoned out until Damon started waving a glass of bourbon in front of my face.

"Vision?" Damon guessed as I took the bourbon from him and he joined me on the couch

"No, just an unnerving amount of dead people surrounding Amara." I explained to him and Jeremy, the latter of which was sitting in one of the arm chairs across from us, nursing his own glass of alcohol.

"Well, that's incredibly creepy." Damon said as I took a long sip of my drink.

"It's been nonstop since we got back" I added before turning to Jeremy. "Can't you hear them?"

"No." Jeremy replied as he looked down at his glass. "The only one I've seen today is Bonnie."

I sighed, not sure how to respond to that. As I leaned back into the couch, I heard the front door open. I turned to see Stefan and Elena walk in, not really sure how Damon, Jeremy, and I had beat them home, deciding to just block out their conversation to let them have their privacy. I rested my head on Damon's shoulder as they talked and waited until I heard Stefan head upstairs before tuning back in.

"Stefan Salvatore sleeps in his own bed tonight." Damon spoke up as Elena walked into the living room, "Does that mean he stopped hating us or did the power of the doppelganger universe push him into the car with you?"

"What?" Elena asked in confusion as she moved to sit in the other arm chair

"I'll explain later." I told her as sat back up, "What happened?"

"Well, he saved my life." Elena explained, "So I'll take that as not hate."

"Victory in a day otherwise marred by failure." Damon said, raising the bottle of bourbon in his hands, Jeremy and I doing the same before taking another drink. The look on Elena's face made it clear that she like the fact that Jeremy was drinking but, knowing the day he had had and that we hadn't gotten Bonnie back, she was going to let it slide tonight.

"Tell her it's for the best." I looked up from my glass at the sound of Bonnie's voice and saw that she was now sitting on the arm of Jeremy's chair.

"No." Jeremy shook his head before setting his drink to the side, "No, I wont because it's not."

"What?" Damon asked, looking at Jeremy as if he had lost his mind at the sudden outburst

"It's Bonnie." I relayed for him and Elena, "She says that she doesn't want us to worry."

"We're gonna keep trying Bonnie, okay?" Elena said to our ghost of a best friend, Bonnie grimacing, not wanting us to get out hopes up for something that might very well be impossible. "It's not over. We've dealt with much worse."

"Well, Silas is M.I.A. and out and about, which is pretty bad." Damon started as he got off of the couch, moving around the couch to set his bottle of bourbon back on the small bar, "Then we have a newly cured and entirely killable Amara, which leaves the fate of the Other Side , where Bonnie currently resides, resting on a living, breathing human being that we now need to protect."

"Wait." Elena said, looking from Damon to me, "_We_ need to protect?"

"Yep. Come on." I said, downing the rest of my bourbon before I stood up and headed out of the living room with Elena following behind me in confusion. I led my cousin down to the basement, sighing in relief when all I heard was the sound of Amara moving around. I guess the ghosts had decided to take a break for a minute. I unlocked the cellar door and pushed the door open, stepping aside to let the two doppelgangers to get a good look at each other.

"Elena meet Amara. Amara meet Elena." I introduced the two leaning against the doorframe. As soon as Amara had gotten over the slight shock of seeing someone that looked identical to her, she let out a bloodcurdling scream, and, if I was being honest, she had a pretty impressive set of lungs on her. I pushed my self off of the doorframe and quickly pulled the door closed. I turned back to Elena as Amara's screaming cut off, seeing how wide her eyes had gotten at the sight of Amara.

"Well…"I drawled out sarcastically, "isn't she just delightful."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

**Reviews = Love = Updates**


	10. Death and the Maiden

**Chapter Ten- Death and the Maiden**

**Audrey's P.O.V**

If there was one thing I had learned from the last few hours it was that ghosts really didn't give a damn how obnoxious they were during the middle of the night. I had been tossing and turning all night, trying to sleep, to no avail thanks to the constant stream of the undead filing through the basement. I sighed as I watched the green numbers of my alarm clock tick over to six o'clock , rolling out of bed as I finally gave up trying to sleep. I probably wouldn't be getting any sleep until we finally got rid of Amara. I made my way around the room quietly, grabbing a change of clothes and trying not to wake Damon up at the same time, before heading into the bathroom. After showering, I put on my matching pair of black lace bra and panties before slipping into pair of denim shorts and a light grey three quarters sleeve t shirt. I threw my hair into a high pony tail carelessly as I walked back into the room, shooting a quick glance over to Damon who was still asleep, before heading right out of the room.

It was clear that, minus Amara and company, I was the only one awake, not that it surprised me at all. Hell, if I could be asleep right now I would be. I stepped into the kitchen and made a b-line for the coffee, I was definitely going to need it today. After waiting a painfully long time for my caffeine, I poured myself a mug and headed out to the porch. The sun was just beginning to rise so I thought I might as well make the best of the situation. I settled down on the ledge of the porch, my legs swinging over the edge as I watched the sky change from a dark purple to orange. I took a sip of my coffee, cringing a bit when I heard yet another ghost make an appearance downstairs.

"Seriously!" I snapped, knowing that it was no use yelling at the dead but being too frustrated and tired to really care. "You're dead! Get over it and move on."

"A bit harsh, don't you think." My head snapped to my right at the familiar voice and I couldn't keep the smirk that spread across my face as my eyes landed on Alaric.

"Ric, where the hell have you been?" I questioned my former guardian as I swiveled to get a better look at him

"Roaming around supernatural purgatory." Ric replied nonchalantly as he looked up at the rising sun, "Everything has been pretty hectic in good ol' Mystic Falls so I thought I'd take a step back until everything cooled down a bit."

"Yeah, I'm not to sure that the crazy in this town will ever calm down." I sighed as I kept my eyes on Ric, "Plus, I'd rather have you here than not. I've missed you. We've all missed you."

"I've missed you all too." Ric said pausing a minute before adding, "Well, not as food and booze, but still."

"You're a dick." I scoffed as Ric chuckled at my reaction

"I blame Damon's influence." Ric claimed before looking over his shoulder back to the door, "Speaking of..."

"Good morning, Damon" I greeted the older Salvatore as I spun around to face him

"Please tell me there is a logical reason that you are up before seven in the morning." Damon groaned as he walked across the porch to where I was sitting

"Oh, you know, couldn't sleep because of the ridiculous amount of ghosts in our basement." I answered with a wave of my hand, smiling as I heard Alaric burst out laughing next to me. "The usual."

"Naturally." Damon grimaced with a roll of his eyes, probably wondering how his life had gotten to the point where that was a normal response. As he took a seat on my left, he grabbed my coffee and I glared at him until I heard Ric speak up again.

"Like that doesn't make you sound crazy." Ric sniggered

"I didn't ask for your input." I replied, earning a confused look from Damon and another round of laughter from Ric, "Sorry, Alaric's here and he's being a douche."

"Sounds about right." Damon said with a smirk before taking a sip of my coffee

"Well, isn't that the pot calling the kettle black." Ric grinned at his former drinking buddy

"He says that you're one to talk." I relayed to Damon and he just shrugged at the accusation

"How you doing buddy?" Damon asked in all seriousness and I turned to Alaric, waiting for his response

"I'll be fine as long as you keep your promise and take care of the children." Alaric said and I repeated his message to Damon.

"You know, I am really starting to regret that promise." Damon bemoaned and I took advantage of his distraction to grab back my coffee

"I really resent the-" I started but was cut off as I was pulled into a vision

_Silas leaned his head back against the bus bench he was sitting at, groaning as the slight movement sent a wave of pain through his neck. His groan alerted the loving couple that sat, practically entwined, a foot away from him, but they did their best to ignore him, not wanting to deal with him. That probably would have worked had Silas not been a prick and tried to force a conversation on them._

"_Have you ever been in love?" He asked the pair as he stared up at the cloudy sky. He waited a few second but ,when it became clear that neither of them were going to answer, he looked over to the couple and pressed them further. "Hello? You two? Love?"_

_The couple looked at each other, debating whether or not to answer the stranger, for a few moments before the woman turned to Silas and replied, "Yeah, we're together. In love."_

"_Awww. That's so adorable." Silas mocked them and the pair scooted a bit farther down the bench away from him. "I love love. I do. I have a soul mate too, you know. That love at first sight, want to live forever, love is eternal kind of love. Amara." He smiled at the couple just at the mention of his lover, and the two seemed to calm down a bit. "That's her name. See, the problem is, when I met her I was kinda engaged to someone else and I sorta cheated on her. In all honesty, it really wouldn't have been such problem had my fiancée not been a raging lunatic. When she found out he literally turned Amara into stone. Like full on Medusa style here."_

"_Dude, are you okay." The man asked as he turned to face Silas._

"_What do you mean?" Silas questioned in faux confusion. "You think I'm crazy? Why do you think I'm crazy? All I've wanted for the last two thousand years was to be reunited with the love of my life. How crazy is that?"_

"_It might have something to do with the 'turned her to stone' part." The woman replied with a raised eyebrow before looking over her shoulder to see if the bus was coming yet._

"_Or maybe the 'two thousand years' part." The boyfriend suggested and Silas's head fell back once again at the comment._

"_Guys, we were immortal and now we're not. It's really not that hard of a concept to grasp." The couple shared a look, coming to the conclusion that Silas was out of his mind. While Silas still had his eyes glued upwards, the man oh so subtly kicked his duffel bag under the bench. "Listen you two, here's my advice: live it up, enjoy this love thing while it lasts because let me tell you something, it can change in the blink of an eye. I was psychic, I was immortal, I was in love. Now my neck hurts and I'm sitting at a bus stop in freaking Delaware…"_

"_Actually, you're in Philly." The woman corrected Silas, earning the attention of the former immortal once again, his eyes widening in honest disbelief._

"_I'm in Philly?" Silas questioned, groaning and closing his eyes when the pair nodded in response. "God, it's even worse than I thought."_

_It wasn't a second later that the man bent over, moaning in pain as an unnatural heat spread through his abdomen. As his moans became more persistent, his girlfriend tried to ask what was wrong but the only response she got was him throwing up blood onto the ground. _

"_What's happening?" She asked in full blown panic before turning to Silas, "What are you doing to him?"_

"_I think I'm liquefying his internal organs." Silas explained as he opened his eyes and sent a grimace toward the man. "Oh, did I forget to mention that I'm a witch. An extremely pissed off witch using your lover to channel all of my anger. And I'm thinking you might be my next victim." The woman looked between her boyfriend and Silas in fear before running off, leaving her lover to die. "Man, love is so fickle." Silas grabbed hold of the man once he had stopped moving, positioning him so it seemed as if he had just fallen asleep on the bench. As Silas caught sight of the bus approached, he grabbed the couples duffel, swinging it over his shoulder as he took a few steps toward the road. "Busses however, tried and true."_

"-children remark." I finished as snapped back into reality looking around as I tried to get my bearings, I swear, I would never get use to this. I turned to Damon and asked, "How long was I out?"

"About five minutes" Damon replied as he once again held my coffee in his hands. "What did you see?"

"Silas." I stated, "Apparently he's decided to start killing off happy couples due to his sucky track record in the relationship department."

"Well, isn't that just fantastic." Damon replied sarcastically, "Okay, first thing on our doppelgänger to-do list is call Silas and see when he's coming to collect his crazy lover."

"AUDREY! DAMON!" The sound of Elena's voice filled the morning air, urgency clear in her voice. It certainly looked like this day was going to be exciting.

"Maybe make that the second thing." I suggested, getting to my feet, looking between Alaric and Damon

"Well, I'll take that as my cue." Alaric spoke up and I nodded, giving him a quick bye before grabbing Damon's hand and pulling him to his feet and back into the boarding house to face the crazy that was our life.

* * *

><p>I sat next to Damon on the couch, watching Stefan in slight shock as Damon and Elena played twenty questions with him. Apparently Tessa had snuck in last night and, being the vengeful bitch she is, returned all of Stefan's memories full force since he had helped Elena escape yesterday. While Damon and Elena saw this as a win, I was a bit more skeptical. Sure it meant that he remembered who he was and who we were but it also meant that he remembered the three months he spent drowning repeatedly at the bottom of the Quarry. I had been so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I jumped at the sound of glass shattering, looking down at Stefan's hand to see the broken remains of his coffee mug.<p>

"Easy there, buddy." Damon said as I kept my eyes on Stefan noticing that his breathing had picked up speed and he had gone a bit pale. It was obvious what he had been thinking about and I could see why it had caused his momentary freak out.

"All that and I still can't remember my own strength." Stefan said with a chuckle, trying to pass it off as nothing. A thump from downstairs seemed to catch Stefan's attention, causing him to furrow his brows before asking, "What was that noise?"

"We have a bit of a doppelgänger problem." I responded, speaking up for the first time since we had moved into the parlor

"Katherine?" Stefan asked and I couldn't help but think that Stefan had still missed out on a lot of things even though his memories were back.

"Nope, not Katherine." Damon answered before getting off of the couch, "Come on, it's probably easier if I just showed you."

Stefan nodded before getting to his feet and following his brother out of the room and to the basement. I waited until I heard them make their way down the stairs before I got up and headed to the study to get a moment alone and call Silas. Might as well take care off it now before he just randomly showed up on our doorstep. I poured myself a glass of bourbon -yes it was only like eight in the morning but I needed it- as I dialed Silas and took a sip as I waited for him to pick up.

"Hello, Audrey." Silas answered as I walked over to the fireplace, staring into the fire as I replied.

"Silas." I greeted with a roll of my eyes, "Enjoying your bus ride?"

"I am actually." He replied overly chipper, not a bit surprised that I knew exactly what had happened. "There are some very nice people here, by the way."

"I'm glad you seem to be having such a good time but, unless you forgot, we're on a bit of a time crunch here." I told him, shifting from one foot to the other. His carefree attitude was really starting to piss me off. The guy figures out that the love of his life is still alive and takes his sweet old time trying to get to her? What the hell?

"Yeah, but you know what's great about the bus, Audrey? Open road." Silas both asked and answered his own question and ,before I had time add some snarky comment, he continued. "There's time to think, watch everyday human beings in their normal environment. Did you know that gas is over three dollars a gallon at the moment? It really seems to concern a lot of people.

"Is this really the time to have a end of life crisis, Silas?" I snapped at him, closing my eyes and rubbing my temples. "We need you to bring back Bonnie before your lover kills herself and destroys the Other Side."

"Yeah. I've been thinking about that. Amara needs to die." I had been taking another sip of bourbon as Silas spoke and nearly choked to death when I heard him, nonchalantly, say that someone he had been pining after for _two thousand years _had to die.

"I'm sorry?" I questioned, thinking that I must have just misheard him because that could be the only logical reason that I heard what I thought I heard.

"My poor Amara, all those years trapped in stone clearly left her unhinged." Or all the ghosts talking to her, that could have been it. "So look, if she doesn't want to spend another moment on this earth, then I'm more than happy to put her out of her misery and spend the rest of eternity in the afterlife with her. But listen, if you want to go ahead and kill her and save me the trouble, then please, by all means, go right ahead."

"I'm not doing a damn thing until you bring back Bonnie!" I yelled at the witch, my anger rising by the second. "You promised."

"I've been thinking about that, Audrey." Silas replied, his chipper voice even more grating that usual. "I already got what I wanted from you so I'm not really sure how bringing back Bonnie now will benefit me any more than it already has. So I've decided not to help you bring your beloved friend back. I'll see you soon and I'm looking forward to all of this being over. Bye."

As the phone clicked, signaling that Silas had hung up on me, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to try and calm myself down. I could not believe I had let myself trust Silas. I knew exactly what kind of lowlife backstabber this guy was but I had deluded myself into hoping that for once, just once, something would actually go as planned. My eyes snapped open and I looked down at the glass in my hands for half a second before throwing it into the fireplace. I watched the flames lick up the walls of the fireplace for a few moments before sighing and heading back toward the parlor to tell everyone the _fantastic_ news.

* * *

><p>I honestly couldn't believe my ears as I listened to what Elena was suggesting. I wanted to get Bonnie back as much as she did, but she had lost it if she thought there was anyway we could keep Amara alive and Silas away from her since he was an all powerful witch. For some reason she thought that we could use Amara as leverage to get Silas to bring Bonnie back, even through I had made it crystal clear that he didn't give a damn if Amara lived or died.<p>

"Weren't you listening to anything?" Stefan snapped at his ex, telling her exactly what I had been thinking, "He's not gonna bring her back."

"So, what, I should just give up?" Elena questioned him in disbelief. "Come on, Stefan, you got your memory back. You know me better than anyone, do you really think that I'm just going to give up?"

"You're right, Elena, I do know you. You put all your hope in the wrong places and sometimes the wrong people." I looked down as Stefan turned his gaze toward Damon and I. Okay, that hurt. "Silas needs to die and put us all out of our misery."

"Well, as long as he's still alive, I'm not giving up hope." Elena replied stubbornly, making me regret throwing my drink into the fire.

"Well, as someone who just spent the last three months at the bottom of the Quarry because of him, I wouldn't hold your breath. Pun intended. Silas needs to die, and I need to be the one to kill him, end of story." When Stefan finished his rant, he stomped out of the room, leaving an extremely awkward silence in his wake.

"That went well." Damon remarked sarcastically and I looked back up to see Elena glaring daggers at him but he didn't seem fazed at all.

I sighed as I got to my feet, moving over to the bar and pouring two glasses of bourbon in silence. It was probably best if I just kept my mouth shut at this point since I felt as if I was about to snap at any moment. I handed one of the glasses to Damon and was about to walk out of the room when Elena decided to speak up.

"Can you guys even believe him right now?" She bit out and I felt my anger rise even more. Was she freaking serious? "He's not even acting like himself."

"Being stuck in a safe for three months might do that to a guy." I snapped at my cousin, spinning around to see the confused look on her face, probably expecting me to agree with her. "And you know what, I totally see why he would be acting the way he's acting. He was drowning over and over again for months and there's only one person to blame for it." I walked up to Elena as I continued, feeling all of my anger toward Silas burst, making her the unlucky victim. "Do you even remember that Qetsiyah tethered me to Stefan? I felt him drowning, Elena! You were there, you saw it. I went through that, what, three times? He had to have gone through that hundreds of times! Did you really think he would just jump on Silas bandwagon?"

I felt a pair of hands grab onto my waist and pull me back. "Easy there, tiger." Damon said, keeping a hold of me, and I noticed for the first time how close I had gotten to Elena. I took a deep breath to calm myself down but was still too pissed to apologize. Luckily enough for me the sound of someone clearing their throat broke up the momentary tension in the room and I turned toward the sound to see Jeremy standing in the entry way of the parlor, Bonnie's ghost standing next to him.

"We need to talk."

* * *

><p>Well, at least it looked like our luck was beginning to turn around. Apparently Amara could not only see ghosts but could touch them too. Bonnie guessed that it was because she was somehow a part of both the living world and the Other Side, which meant that, if we could just get someone to the spell, we could transfer Amara's anchor abilities to Bonnie and our problem would be solved. Unfortunately there was only one witch that could do that and she was completely psychotic. Than again, I would rather work with Qetsiyah than Silas.<p>

I stayed back at the boarding house while Damon went to Qetsiyah's cabin, knowing full well that she would agree since it meant screwing over Silas and Amara one last time. I sat in the study by myself, avoiding Elena for the time being and listening to make sure Amara didn't try and off herself. As I stood in front of the floor to ceiling windows, starring out onto the backyard, I heard footsteps making their way to the study, stopping just outside of the doorway. I waited for whoever it was to speak up first but after almost two minutes it was apparent that they weren't going to say anything.

"Are you just going to stand there or what?" I questioned , closing my eyes and feeling the warmth of the sun as it filtered through the window.

"I wasn't sure if you wanted to be alone." I turned and opened my eyes when I heard Stefan's voice reply, honestly a bit shocked to see him since he had seemed so pissed off earlier.

"Even if I did, you clearly have something you want to say." I said, crossing my arms over my chest as Stefan stopped in front of me, "Go ahead, spit it out."

"I heard what you said to Elena earlier." Stefan started, not that I was surprised by that, I had exactly been quiet about it.

"It's not hard to see where you're coming from, Stefan." I spoke up before he had a chance to continue. "You suffer for three months and come back to find us working with Silas. It probably would have been less painful for us to have literally stabbed you in the back."

"Well, I am glad there's someone here that still seems to have common sense, even if you did work with him." Stefan said and I just shrugged. I'd made better decisions before. "But I was taking about us being tethered." Wow. It hadn't even been twenty four hours and Stefan had already gone back to his 'take all the blame' ways.

"Listen Stefan, It's not your fault a crazy bitch witch thought the best way to get me to find you was mind control and suffocation instead of a text." I sighed, not wanting Stefan to shoulder unnecessary guilt. It was clear just by the look in his eyes that all his memories flooding back were taking a toll on him, the last thing he needed right now was this.

"I know that, but I'm still sorry you had to go through that."

"Stefan, You're the dictionary definition of a good guy, if there's anyone that this shouldn't have happened to, it's you." I watched as a small smile graced Stefan's lips, the first real smile I had seen since he had gotten out of the safe. Now this was a side of Stefan that I really couldn't believe. The guy goes through months of pure hell and still makes sure his friends are okay before taking care of himself. It really showed how amazing he was. As I continued, I walked over to the couch and took a seat. "Anyway, if we're lucky, Silas and Qetsiyah will be out of our lives by the end of the night. Speaking of which, have you ever heard that it's bad luck to kill your double."

"Not you too." Stefan groaned as he plopped down on the couch next to me

I held my hands up in defense as I looked over to Stefan. "Hey, I'm not saying he shouldn't be killed, but have you stopped to think that maybe a two thousand year old witch might have a leg up on you?" Having been where Stefan was, I knew first hand that revenge could be a 'shoot first, ask questions later' kind of thing, which really wasn't good when dealing with insanely powerful supernatural creatures. "There is a possibility that he could kill you."

"Audrey, every time I close my eyes all I can see is Silas stabbing me, I can feel myself drowning, and I need to make it stop." It was clear that Stefan really did believe that, since Silas was the root of all his problems, that killing his doppelgänger would end his suffering, but I had my doubts. "I don't kill him, I'm gonna lose my mind, or I'm gonna turn off my humanity, maybe both."

I took one last look at Stefan before getting to my feet, letting out a sigh. "Just be careful okay." I ordered him before walking out of the room without waiting for a response.

* * *

><p>"So you live in his giant mansion with your psychic girlfriend and two doppelgangers that are destined to end up together?" I heard Qetsiyah's voice drifting into the house from down the hall, reluctantly walking to the foyer where her and Damon were standing. "I swear there's a sitcom in there somewhere."<p>

"Yeah, I pitched it to a few networks but they weren't interested." Sarcasm dripped from every word and I smirked when Qetsiyah glared at me. "If you're looking for the once immortal anchor that stole your boyfriend, she's in the basement." I hitched my thumb over my shoulder. "Down this hallway, second door on the left." Without a word, Qetsiyah sauntered off toward the basement. Once she was gone I turned toward Damon and smiled, "What's the deal?"

"She'll do it but she needs to draw on the doppelgangers to complete the spell." Damon filled me in quickly as we moved into the parlor. Thank god it was something we had an abundance of here. "The revenge on Silas and Amara definitely won her over though."

"Thought it might, she's pretty revenge driven." I replied. "Speaking of revenge, your brother is still hell-bent on taking out Silas."

"Oh Stefan, always so stubborn." Damon said as he sat down on the couch, grabbing a hold of my hand and pulling me down with him.

"Really?" I cocked an eyebrow at him, "This coming from the guy that chased after a manipulative slut for a hundred and fifty years?" Before Damon had a chance to explain, the door swung open and in walked Caroline and Katherine. "Ah, speak of the devil."

"The cute one's here." Katherine called out and I rolled my eyes as I leaned into Damon's side, taking a hold of his hand and intertwining our fingers.

"That was more poor judgment than stubbornness." Damon countered, resting his chin on my head. I laughed as Qetsiyah returned to the foyer to deal with my least favorite doppelganger.

"She's all yours." Caroline passed Katherine off before joining us in the parlor.

"Have a nice drive back, Barbie?" Damon asked and I didn't even need to look to know that he was smirking.

"Shut up." Caroline huffed as she sunk into one of the arm chairs, looking as if the last two hours had been the worst of her entire life. Well it probably had been seeing as she had been stuck in a small car with a whiney Katherine, a fate I wouldn't wish on anyone. "I swear, after the drive I just went through, this better work."

I sure as hell hoped so because honestly we were running out of options as fast as Bonnie was running out of time. If this didn't work I wasn't sure there would be any way of ever getting her back.

* * *

><p>I really hated Silas. Actually, scratch that, I loathed Silas at this point. First he locks Stefan up in a safe for three months, then he backs out resurrecting Bonnie, and now he was trying to ruin our plan b.<p>

I walked down the darkened hallway (Oh did I mention that Silas had blown out all the lights?) silently thanking vampire sight as I made my way to the room Qetsiyah and the doppelgangers had taken over for the spell.

"I can't see anything." It was really amazing that, in a room full of people that all sounded the same, I could still pick out the bitchy tone of Katherine Pierce

"That's cause the powers out in the whole house, Kitty Kat." I replied as I walked into the room, regretting that I hadn't grabbed a flashlight before hand. At least Damon thought things through if the light coming from behind me was any indication.

"What happened?" Damon questioned as he entered the room, shining the flashlight toward Elena and Katherine

"I'm betting on Silas." I guessed and Elena nodded in confirmation. Damon looked around the rest of the room, I followed the beam of light and noticed that we were the only four left.

"Wait. I'm only seeing two doppelgangers." Damon pointed out making Katherine and Elena look around in confusion. "Where's crazy pants?"

"And where's the other crazy?" Elena asked, referring to Qetsiyah who had also disappeared in the short amount of time that it had taken me to get here.

"Well this day just keeps getting better, doesn't it." I groaned as I looked back over to Damon. "You guys look in here for psycho one and two and I'll look around outside?" I waited for Damon's nod before bolting out of the room, hoping to find Amara before Silas had the chance to kill her and destroy the Other Side.

* * *

><p>I had been searching over every inch of the Salvatore property for nearly twenty minutes without so much as a trace of Amara or Silas. I tried to listen out for any voices but the woods were silent, the only sound being the crunching of branches as I stepped on them. I jumped slightly when the silence was broken by the sound of my phone ringing, but quickly composed myself before answering.<p>

"Tell me you have good news." I stated, not bothering with introductions as I dove right into the conversation.

"Well, we found Tessa." Damon replied as I continued trudging through the untamed grass, a clear sign that I was reaching the end of the property. "But Amara is nowhere to be found."

"That's because Stefan took her." Elena added and I had to admit, that was a pretty smart move on Stefan's behalf. Well not smart in the 'surviving until morning' way, but in the 'get revenge on Silas' way.

"Silas!"

I pulled the phone away as Amara's scream filled the air, ignoring the sound of Damon trying to get my attention over the line. I ran toward where the sound had come from and only had a split second to notice a dead Silas and an unconscious Stefan before a glint of something metallic caught my eye. I turned my head just as Amara drove a knife right into her chest.

"NO!" I yelled, dropping my phone as I zoomed forward, reaching her just as she fell to the ground, blood already pooling around the wound. I bit into my wrist, watching the blood flow down as I brought it to Amara's lips. "Drink this, Amara. Please." I forced a good amount of blood into her mouth but ,as soon as I pulled my arm away, she began gagging, the blood pouring right back out. I felt myself slip into full on panic mode as Amara started slipping out of consciousness, knowing if I didn't keep her alive there would be no way of getting Bonnie back. "Amara, you gotta stay with me. Please, Amara."

"I've been in hell for two thousand years." Amara choked out, a mixture of her blood and mine trickling from her lips. "Let me die."

"Amara, no. Come on." I begged, my eyes burning as I held back tears. "Please. Please, don't do this." Amara's body sagged and her breathing stopped as the last bit of life in her died out.

I fell back in shock, my eyes glued on the now lifeless body of Amara. In one fell swoop, she had not only ended her life, but the whole of the Other Side. Not only Bonnie, but Alaric and Lexi too. I jumped to my feet when my ringing phone cut through the silence once again, scrambling over to where I had dropped it in the tall grass. "Hello?" I answered, my voice cracking as a few tears spilled over and made their way down my cheeks

"It worked, Audrey." Caroline replied and I had to lean back on the tree next to me. "She's back, Bonnie's back."

I let out a shaky laugh, running a hand through my hair as I looked up to the sky in disbelief. "Oh my God. We actually did it."

"We did." Caroline said with a laugh of her own. "Any luck with finding Amara?"

"Yeah, her and Silas but they didn't make it." I told her as I looked down at the lovers

"Well, I guess that takes care of that." Caroline replied nonchalantly, obviously not caring about the loss of the two doppelgangers. Not that I was sympathetic toward Silas or anything but I did feel bad for Amara. She was really dealt a bad hand in life. "Listen, Damon and Elena are headed your way."

I heard a groan coming from behind me and turned back to where Stefan was sprawled out on the ground, slowly starting to move about. "Care I gotta go." I quickly hung up on Caroline and headed over to Stefan, crouching down in front of him.

"Audrey?" He questioned in confusion as he sat up. "What are you doing here? Where's Silas?" I looked over my shoulder to where Silas's body was haphazardly leaning against a tree with a bloody wound on his chest. " I killed him, he's dead. It's over." The way Stefan said made it sound as if he was trying to convince himself of the fact. "Why don't I feel any better?"

My heart sunk at how devastated Stefan sounded. Although I hadn't that that killing Silas was going to end Stefan's suffering, I had still had a bit of hope. Instead Stefan was still forced to live with all the pain he had faced in the last few months and I was left with a feeling that, even dead, Silas had still won in the end.

The rest of the night past in a blur of burying bodies and welcoming back dead best friends. While everyone was celebrating Bonnie's return and the loss of Amara, Silas, and Qetsiyah, the latter who had killed herself once she was positive that Silas would spend the rest of his eternity separated from his true love, I felt a sense of foreboding wash over me, as if this would be the last time in the near future that we would have anything to celebrate. I tried to shake off the feeling, plastering on a smile whenever someone looked my way. Whatever new evil that could be heading our way, we would handle it the way we always did, together.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello lovely readers,<strong>

**I know, I know, I suck because I haven't updates in a while but, as I'm sure as you all know, life is pretty hectic. I have been training for a new job for the last two months so I haven't had nearly as much time to write as I would have liked. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed. Make sure to review! If I can get three reviews, I will do my best to update by next weekend. So go ahead, press the little button below. Until next time...**

**Audrey;D**


	11. Dead Man On Campus

**Chapter Eleven- Dead Man On Campus**

**Audrey's P.O.V**

Did you ever get that feeling like your whole world could go straight to hell at any moment? That's how the last two days have felt like and, honestly, the it was driving me a bit crazy. It wasn't as if the whole life falling apart thing was a new experience in the slightest, but it was the knowledge something was going to happen and knowing there was little I could do about it that truly set me on edge. At least the whole constant feeling of impending doom -okay, maybe that was a bit dramatic- was my biggest worry at the moment.

I guess it was safe to say that things had gotten back to normal, or the Mystic Falls equivalent of it anyway. Caroline and Elena had headed back to Whitmore with Bonnie yesterday. I found it weird that someone that had spent the entire summer as a ghost would want to jump right into college but she had said that she wanted to enjoy life as an average eighteen year old. I guess you couldn't really get more average than college. Jeremy had actually gone to school and so far I hadn't gotten any calls from the principal, so that was progress in itself. Which left me, Damon and Stefan as the only ones in the boarding house at the moment, the latter of which was locked in his room like he had been since we had returned two days ago.

At the moment, Damon and I were lounging in the parlor, taking advantage of the much needed break from the supernatural. I was sitting on the piano bench next to Damon, resting my head on his shoulder as he lazily played a few melodies. It was nice to be able to be able to enjoy something so normal and I was hoping that nothing would come along and interrupt it. I closed my eyes as he played his way through Yiruma's _River Flows Through You _and sighed in content.

"This is nice." I stated as I kept my eyes closed, "You should play more often, you're really good."

"Well, that's what happens when you have a hundred and sixty years to practice." Damon replied and I could hear the smile in his voice. "Plus, it's not like we have a whole lot of free time when we're not busy trying to save Mystic Falls."

"Very true, this place needs way more saving than a small town should." I heard Damon scoff at my comment as he finished off the last notes of the song, seamlessly starting into the next right after. I opened my eyes and furrowed my brows in confusion as I listened to the intro. "Yiruma to The Script?" I questioned as he played _Breakeven._

"It's a good song." He shrugged and I couldn't disagree with him. I sat up and pulled my phone out my phone, quickly taking a picture of Damon while he was too focused on playing to notice. The music cut off as the camera clicked, Damon turning to look at me with a raised brow. "What was that for?"

"Like you said, moments like these are far and few between. Gotta make sure we remember the good when we're drowning in the bad." I told him as I tried to put my phone away, only for Damon to grab it from me before I had the chance. "Hey!"

Damon smirked as he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him, holding my phone out in front of us. I smiled just before I heard the camera click again but before either of us had a chance to look at it, my phone started ringing, Elena's name flashing on the screen.

"What are the chances she's calling about something supernatural drama free?" I grimaced as I looked at the phone, debating whether or not to answer it.

"Only one way to find out." Damon replied before answering with "Audrey's phone."

"Damon?" The way Elena asked made it seem like it was the most unthinkable thing that Damon would answer my phone. "Where's Audrey?"

"Busy." Damon replied without any other type of explanation, "Anything I can do for you?"

"She's right next to you, isn't she." Elena assumed, already knowing she was right.

I rolled my eyes, resting my head back on Damon's shoulder. "You got me. What's up, Elena?" I replied without bothering to take the phone from Damon, knowing she would be able to hear me.

"Okay, I know this is gonna sound lame, but…" Elena started and I immediately felt myself relax, at least it wasn't about another psycho doppelganger.

"See, whenever you start with 'this is gonna be lame' guess what? It is." Damon cut her off and I had to stop myself from laughing at Elena's huff of annoyance. And Damon wondered why my cousins didn't like him.

"You didn't even give me a chance to get to the free bourbon part." Elena continued

I looked up at Damon, both of us sharing a look before replying with "We're listening."

"I thought so." Elena said triumphantly before continuing once again, "So we're having a welcome back party for Bonnie tonight and since you two had a really big part in bring her back, I think you both should come."

"Now that's a dilemma." I thought aloud, "A bunch of obnoxious freshman but free drinks."

"Come on, Audrey. Wait, hold on. " Elena begged. "Aaron! Hey! Long time no see."

"Who's Aaron?" Damon asked me, putting the phone on speaker and setting it down in front of him

"I think that's her semester project." I guessed, assuming that it was the blond guy she had ditched me for at the historical ball. I listened to Elena try to convince this Aaron guy come to her 'Party in a Dorm' unsuccessfully until she sort of let it slip that she had compelled him the last time they had talked. Newbie vampire mistake. Luckily for Elena there didn't seem to be any vervain on the guy so compelling him again was easy enough.

"That was real smooth there, Elena." I joked as she got back on the phone with us, "Maybe we should come so you don't spill all of our deep dark secrets to moody mystery guy."

"Whatever, I'll see you guys tonight." Elena replied before adding, "Oh, and see if Stefan wants to come."

"Doubtful." Damon scoffed, "He's been holed up in his room since you left and refuses to so much as talk to us."

"I'll talk to him, Elena." I told my cousin. "But I'm not making any promises that he'll be there."

"Thank you!" Elena replied cheerfully before hanging up on us. I looked over at Damon as he set down my phone, a look of defeat on his face as he starting up another piece on the piano. It was obvious that there really wasn't any arguing with Elena on the subject since she would just send Caroline after us, and that wasn't something neither of us wanted.

* * *

><p>An hour later saw me knocking on Stefan's door, waiting for any sign of movement from inside, but it was completely silent. Not like I expected him to jump up and answer the door, it wasn't exactly the first time I had tried to get him out of his room in the last two days with the same result.<p>

"Come on, Stefan." I called through the door. Nothing. "You can't stay in there forever, you know. It's not healthy." I stood there for another minute or two before finally giving up on the easy way. "Okay, that's it. I'm coming in."

I pushed the door open and made my way onto the room, seeing Stefan sitting in his desk chair with his eyes closed.

"So you're just ignoring me then. Awesome." I muttered as I walked up to Stefan, leaning on the desk in front of him. "Look, Elena invited us to a welcome home party for Bonnie and I've been assured that there will be top shelf alcohol there." Still no response. I looked at Stefan for a moment and realized for the first time that he was straining in his seat, hands gripping the armrests with so much force that I was surprised that they hadn't snapped in half.

"Stef?" I questioned softly, setting my hand on his which resulted in him jumping in his chair, looking around the room for any sign of danger before looking up to me. "You okay?"

"Uh, yeah." Stefan replied unconvincingly as he got to his feet, forcing me to move out of the way so he could get past me. "Tell Elena I said no thanks. I'm not really feeling up to a party tonight."

I watched in worry as Stefan all but ran into his bathroom and looked himself inside, efficiently ending the conversation. Clearly all of Stefan's memories were causing way more damage then I had originally thought but there wasn't a lot I could do to help him if he wouldn't even talk to me. Guess that was tomorrow's problem to deal with then. I looked at the bathroom door once more before heading out of Stefan's room with a sigh.

* * *

><p>I starred out at the setting sun as Damon and I drove to Whitmore, playing with the hem of my white lace dress, my nerves rising with ever mile that took us closer to the college. It was like whatever had been causing my anxiety since we had gotten rid of Silas was getting closer and there still wasn't any sign of what the hell 'it' was.<p>

"Would you spit it out already?" Damon questioned, turning down the radio as I looked over at him. "You've been acting weird for the last two days. Is there some vision I should be worried about?"

"No." I replied but the look Damon sent me made it clear that he didn't believe that at all. "Seriously, no vision, just a feeling."

"Well, if you weren't a psychic I would probably say it was nothing to worry about," Damon said, looking back to the road ahead of us, "but we both know your sixth sense is always uncannily spot on."

"Yeah, hence the nerves." I looked back out the window. "Something bad is gonna happen. And, if I'm right, it's gonna happen soon."

"Well, that's comforting." Damon returned just as my phone started ringing again. I pulled my phone out of my leather jacket and looked to see Elena's name flashing on the screen. Seriously this girl was entirely too focused on her party.

"Elena, we are literally five minutes away." I answered with a roll of my eyes

"We have a problem." My stomach dropped at Elena's words and I immediately looked back over to Damon. "Jesse's a vampire."

"Wait, hot upperclassmen Jesse that Caroline's into?" I questioned her. I hadn't actually met the guy but I had heard enough from Caroline to know that he was-or I guess had been- human. "When the hell did that happen? Actually how the hell is what I really want to know."

"Apparently, Wes turned him after Care healed him on Remembrance Day." Elena explained over the sound of the almost overpowering music of the party in the background

"What is it about that place that keeps turning people into mad scientists?" Damon asked rhetorically, and I would have laughed had the last mad scientist we dealt with not been such a pain in the ass. "I take it that the newbie already took care of that problem before he escaped." Damon assumed , I mean it was a pretty safe bet that Jessie would have drained the guy dry.

"No, he tied him up in his lab actually." Elena countered. Well, a newbie vampire with control. Color me impressed. "Which is why I am calling. We need to figure out why Wes would want to turn Jesse into a vampire."

"Just so I'm clear, Elena Gilbert is openly asking us to torture a professor?" Damon smirked, getting an annoyed sigh from Elena in return he had

"I'm asking you to get information from Wes so we can figure out what we're dealing with." Elena clarified, trying her best to not sound like she was condoning torture,. Even though she was.

"We'll get your answers, Elena. See you in a minute." I told my cousin before hanging up on her and throwing my phone back into my pocket. I sighed as Damon pulled into the Whitmore campus, wondering why I had thought that I would be able to have just one more supernatural drama free night.

* * *

><p>After talking to Jesse to figure out exactly what he had gone through, Damon and I headed down to Wes's lab and found the good doctor tied to a gurney, struggling to get free.<p>

"Well, Jesse really did do all the prep work for us." I said to Damon as we walked into the lab, Wes immediately stopping to look toward us. "Remind me to thank him later."

"Wait, I've seen you two around here before." Wes stated and I stopped next to the Professor while Damon headed over to the fridge on the other side of the room. "You're friends of Elena Gilbert. What do you want?"

"What I_ want_ to do is to be drinking copious amounts of booze and making out with my girlfriend. But, unfortunately, I can't do that until we get a bunch of answers out of you."

"Well we could do this the quick and easy way." I suggested, looking over to Damon, "A little compulsion and we are out of here in five minutes tops."

"I drink vervain." Wes spoke up smugly, "Compulsion won't work on me."

"Ah, cute. He thinks vervain will save him." I smiled at Damon as I took a seat and looked back to Wes. "Maybe I should tell you that I'm not your average vampire. Vervain isn't gonna stop me from getting into your head." My smile dropped as I looked at the fear in Wes's eyes. "But, if you're so intent on the hard way, who am I to take that away from you. So how about we do this the fun way."

I heard Damon riffling through the fridge and looked up when he exclaimed "Woah!" as he pulled out a tray of vials filled with various liquids.

"Careful with those!" Wes snapped and he stained in his seat again, trying to get in a sitting position but I just pushed him back down

"These?" Damon questioned, holding up the vials in one hand as he slammed the fridge door shut with the other "These right here?"

"You seem a little scared, doc." I said as Damon set the vials down at Wes's desk and started looking through them. "I mean, we are on a college campus full of students. I can't image an M.D. would have anything potentially dangerous laying around."

"M.D. PhD." Wes corrected me with a smirk, "I'm a researcher."

"That explains it." Damon scoffed as he continued looking through the different vials he had set down on Wes's desk. "I know people like you. Science over medicine, right? Let me guess. You use these on all of your vampire lab rats?" We waited for any sort of response from Wes, but it looked like he really did want to do this the hard way. "Not in the mood to talk? Fair enough." Damon grabbed one of the vials and a syringe and made his way to the other side of Wes. "Then I guess we're gonna play a little game where I inject you with whatever the hell 'necrotizing fasciitis' is."

"It's a flesh eating bacteria." Wes replied quickly, staring warily at the vial in Damon's hands.

"That's disgusting." I said as Damon filled the syringe with the lovely bacteria. "So he's gonna do that and we're going to ask you some questions. Bright side to all of this, if you answer our questions, I'll give you some of my amazing vampire blood and we'll heal you right up. But if you decide to do the whole silent treatment thing, well, we're just gonna have to see how much flesh these guys can eat." As I finished, Damon plunged the syringe into Wes's arm, injecting him with the potentially fatal disease.

I sat back and waited for the flesh-eating bacteria to do their thing before asking any questions, hoping the pain would make him a bit more willing to tell us exactly what he was up to.

* * *

><p>It was actually pretty fascinating just how fast the affects from necrotizing fasciitis set in. It only took maybe fifteen minutes for Wes to start turning pale, a light sheen of sweat covering his face as he tried to hide, failing miserably to do so by the way, the pain he was feeling.<p>

"Turning a kid into a vampire so you can experiment on him." Damon stated, propping his feet up onto the gurney Wes was tied down to. "Pretty harsh."

"Human trials are a vital part of modern medicine." Wes bit out. I really did wonder if he realized just how crazy he sounded. Last time I checked, we were in the twenty first century and abducting a kid to use for crazy experiments was frowned upon.

"Um, I am fairly certain modern medicine wouldn't condone exposing unwilling candidates to something as fatal as ,well, death." I pointed out as I got to me feet, strolling over to where Damon had left the numerous vials of deadly diseases.

"Sometimes you do what's necessary for the greater good." Wes replied weakly, loosing the strength to hide the pain.

"I'm not the greatest guy in the world, but that sounds like some Mengele level crap that you're spouting out." Damon said as I picked up one of the vials, smiling at the irony of my selection. "So, I gotta ask, what's your greater good."

"No response. Shocking." I said sarcastically when Wes kept his mouth shut. "Hey, Damon, how does rabies sound?" I questioned as I walked over to him and handed him the vial.

"Very fitting given the circumstances." Damon smirked as he filled the needle in his hand with the clear liquid before swiftly injecting it into the professor.

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes later and Wes still wasn't saying anything even remotely useful. Guess it was clear to say that the whole deadly virus thing wasn't really scaring Wes as much as we had hoped. I looked over to Damon who was looking through the vials once more to see if there was anything else that might get Wes to start talking but I was done being patient.<p>

"Okay, that's it." I snapped as I got to my feet, causing both Wes and Damon to turn their attention back to me. "I'm done waiting for these virus's to cause you enough pain for you to start begging for mercy. I want answers and I want them now. So, I'm going to cause you some more immediate pain. How bout we start with your…ankle." I crossed my arms as Wes screamed, his foot turned an angle that was clearly not meant to happen naturally, the sound of his bone snapping filling up the room. "A response. Looks like we're getting somewhere."

"How the hell did you-" Wes started, pain clear in his voice but he seemed a bit to into figuring out how I had broken his ankle without moving a muscle than the broken bone itself. He didn't get too far into his question before his face contorted in pain once more, probably from the two broken ribs I had just inflicted.

"Oh sorry, did I do something to make you think you were asking the questions here?" I asked as I leaned closer to the Professor, "I thought the now three broken bones might have cleared that up."

"There are two hundred and six bones in the body, Doc." Damon said as he moved back to his seat next to Wes. "And I know that she won't hesitate to break everyone of them if you don't start talking."

Wes looked between Damon and I in fear, most likely thinking about his chances of getting out of this alive if he didn't start giving us something useful.

"I wanted to turn Jesse into a special kind of vampire. The kind that doesn't need to feed on humans to survive. " Wes confessed warily as he slumped into the gurney.

"Well that's awfully ambitious of you." Damon replied as I kept my eyes on Wes, waiting to get a bit more of an explanation.

"Well, I am awfully smart." Was Wes's smug response, which only managed to piss me off even more

"You know, I've heard the femur is the most painful bone in the body to break." I started, earning Wes's attention once again and I saw him flinch at the insinuation, "Care to find out if that's true?"

"Your kind is dangerous to humans." Wes spat out as soon as I was finished, probably hoping to avoid any more broken bones. By the look of pain ever time he took a breath it seemed like I might have taken it a bit far with the broken ribs. Oops. "You're dangerous because we're your food source. I want to change that. If vampires don't need to feed on human's, they aren't a threat anymore."

"You do understand that you are trying to change the basic instinct of a vampire right?" I questioned him, placing my hands on the gurney and leaning toward him. "You can't just erase that."

"No. But I can channel it into a different craving." Wes huffed out, "Jesse, of course, is my exhibit A. Sure he craves human blood now, but it's only a matter of time before he gets a taste of what he really craves."

"Well, what exactly does he really crave?" Damon asked as I pushed myself off of the gurney, taking a step back from the creepy professor.

"Vampires. He craves vampire blood, doesn't he?" I took the sick smile on Wes's lips as confirmation.

"No longer a threat to humans, but definitely a threat to vampires." Wes answered, "It's a win-win."

"I have to go warn Elena." I told Damon, shaking my head as I turned and headed toward the door, completely baffled by how crazy this guy was. I swear, was it really that hard to deal with people that weren't full blown psychopaths?

"What about Doogie here?" Damon questioned, stopping me momentarily

"Honestly, it would probably just be easier to kill him." I replied, looking over to the professor who seemed to pale even more. "But just wait until I get back. He may or may not still be useful."

Damon nodded and I quickly turned and vamp ran out of the lab, hoping to make it back to Elena and Caroline before Jesse went full blown ripper on either of them.

* * *

><p>And of course I had forgotten about the party. Nothing like a fun game of find the one drunk college students in a sea of drunk college students. I pushed my way through the crowd of freshman, looking for any sign of Caroline, Jesse, or Elena but couldn't find them anywhere on the dance floor. It wasn't until I had made it to where the crowd was thinning out by the stairs did I find Elena hanging out with the blond guy from the historical ball.<p>

"Elena, I've been looking everywhere for you." I smiled at my cousin, breaking up the deep conversation her and who I assumed was Aaron were having.

"Audrey?" Elena said in confusion as she got to her feet, "What are you doing here?"

"We really need to talk." I told her before turning to Aaron, "Sorry, family emergency. I'm gonna have to borrow my cousin for a minute."

I didn't wait for any response before grabbing Elena's arm and dragging her back toward the party.

"Care to tell me what the hell is going on?" Elena asked me as I continued to pull her back through the unending wall of teenagers.

"Long story short, Wes told Damon and I that Jesse has an insatiable craving for vampire blood." I rushed out, looking for my bubbly blonde friend while filling Elena in. "So it would be really beneficial to find Caroline and her upperclassman date pronto."

"Jesse feeds on vampires?" Elena said as she stopped in her tracks, pulling me to a stop as well. "That actually makes sense. Caroline said that Jesse ran off after he freaked out over accidentally biting her."

"He already got a taste of vampire blood? Freaking fantastic." I finished sarcastically as I ran a hand through my hair. "Okay, you call Caroline and fill her in. I have to go deal with the Professor."

I tried to head out of the crowd but Elena quickly grabbed my arm. "Wait. Please tell me he's still alive."

"For now." I told her, earning a glare from my cousin. "What? Trust me when I say it's probably better for every one if he's gone."

"Not Aaron. Wes is all he has left!" Elena countered and I rolled my eyes at her. Was she seriously potentially putting all of our lives in danger for one person? "Just, promise me you won't kill him." I stood there for a minute, thinking it through before nodding at her.

"Fine. I'll just compel him." I sighed before pulling my hand out of Elena's hold. "Call me if you see Jesse." I said before making my way through the crowd and back to Wes's lab.

* * *

><p>"As I walked down the hall back to the lab, I was really questioning Elena's choice to keep Wes alive. I mean, I'm not a complete monster, obviously this Aaron guy deserved to have a guardian. I had lost enough of those to know how it feels. But Wes was dangerous and even if I did compel him, there was no guarantee that he wouldn't eventually return to his little vampire experiments.<p>

"So it looks like Dr. Crazy gets to live another day." I stated as I walked into the lab, Damon frowning as he turned to me. "On the plus side, we don't have to bury any bodies today."

"You do realize that there is nothing stopping him from doing this again right?" Sometimes I really did hate it when he knew exactly what I was thinking.

"Yeah, I know." I sighed as I walked past Damon and over to Wes, who looked like the combination of all those deadly viruses and broken bones were really starting to take a toll on him. Honestly, this guy would probably dead within the hour if I didn't heal him ASAP. "I'm hoping I can influence him into an early retirement on some remote island as far from here as possible." I grabbed a scalpel off of Wes's little cart-o-torture and brought it across my wrist before holding it up to Wes's mouth. "Drink up"

Of course things couldn't just go smoothly, that would be far too easy, because not even thirty seconds later the sound of someone storming down the hallway filled up the silence in the room. I looked over my shoulder in time to see Jesse storm into the room and immediately got to my feet, pulling my arm away from Wes and covering up my self inflicted wound in hopes that Jessie wouldn't notice the fresh vampire blood.

"What the hell did you do to me?" Jesse shouted, his eyes locked on the Professor.

"Easy there, killer." Damon said as he stopped Jesse before he could get to close to me and Wes.

Jesse just glared at Damon for a moment before continuing his rant at Wes. "It wasn't bad enough that you locked me up for days and poked me full of needles but now I want to feed on the girl I like?"

"Just calm down Jesse, we'll figure this out, okay." I tried to calm him down, only causing him to turn his full attention onto me, which of course I was hoping to avoid. Damn it. It only took a moment for Jesse to catch sight of the blood seeping through my fingers as my cut healed itself, his face morphing into the all to familiar sign of a hungry vampire. With his fangs bared, Jesse attempted to lunge at me only to be stopped by Damon wrapping his hand around Jesse's throat.

"In case Professor Forbes forgot to tell you in your training, sweetie," Damon started as he held back Jessie who was struggling to get free of his hold, "I am a lot older than you, which means I am a lot stronger than you."

"Well, that's not entirely true, actually." Wes spoke up, making me second guess Elena's decision once again.

In a flash, Jesse grabbed a hold of Damon's arm and threw him through the open doorway before following after him. I ran out after them just in time to see Jesse pulling Damon up to his feet, getting ready to sink his teeth into Damon's neck.

"Hey, Jesse." I called out, holding up my bloody hand when he looked away my way. There was a good and bad side to this plan, on the one hand Jesse let go of Damon (and by 'let go of' I really meant threw down the hallway), but on the other hand now I had a crazed vampire hungry for my blood coming my way. As soon as Damon was out of the way, I sent Jesse flying into the closet wall, watching him struggle against the invisible force that was holding him in place.

"You okay over there?" I questioned Damon as I kept my eyes on Jesse, not wanting to risk him getting out of my hold.

"Never better." Damon groaned out sardonically and I couldn't stop myself from shaking my head at his ability to always be sarcastic.

Well, as long as Damon was all good I guess I could worry about what to do with Jesse. I took a step closer to him, making sure to look him in the eyes before ordering "Calm down." He immediately stopped struggling but his face was still veiny and the fangs were a clear sign that he was ready to snack at any moment. "Jesse, there are only two ways this can end and I am really hoping it can be my way. From what I've heard, you are a really good guy who got dealt a shitty hand here, but I promise I will help you if you can get through this. You can be stronger than the blood, Jesse." Jesse's face slowly turned back to normal and I sighed in relief, thinking that the worst was over. "You're gonna make it through this." I added after it looked like he was back to his normal self, letting the pressure that had been holding him disappear.

I went to take a step back, but before I had the chance, Jesse grabbed me by the shoulders and spun us around, pushing me into the wall with so much force that my head bounces off of the brick wall. My head was pounding and my vision had gone blurry only a moment before I felt fangs rip into my neck. Before I even had a chance to muster up the strength to push Jesse away, he pulled back slowly and as my vision started to clear up I could see his skin turning a sickly grey color right before he dropped to the ground revealing Damon standing right behind where Jesse had been standing before.

"NO!" I heard Caroline scream and I turned to see her running down the hall, barely registering the fact that Damon threw Jesse's heart to the ground. Just as Caroline reached Jesse's body, I felt Damon wrap his arm around my waist and pull me back to give her more room.

"You okay?" Damon questioned and I just nodded as I kept my eyes on my friend as she held Jesse in her arms.

"What did you do?" Caroline spat out as she glared at Damon.

"He was going to kill Audrey. I did what I had to." Damon replied with his usual amount of charm. "I didn't exactly have a choice. Once he had the taste of vampire blood, there was nothing stopping him. Not even Audrey's mind tricks. Go ask Dr. Frankenstein himself." I felt myself getting pulled back toward Wes's lab. "We'll take care of him."

"I'm really sorry, Care." I said as I walked past her not really expecting a response as she looked back down at Jesse. It wasn't until I caught sight of Wes once more that I heard her reply.

"So am I."

* * *

><p>It wasn't fair. Jesse didn't deserve this. Wes had taken advantage of this poor kid and he didn't even seem to flinch when he ended up dead because of it. I looked up from washing the blood off of my hands to the real monster in the room before looking over at Damon as he silently putting the vials of deadly viruses back in their carrier. As I looked back down at the red going down the drain, I pushed back the urge to doing something I probably wouldn't even sort of regret to Wes.<p>

"If you're gonna do this, I'd much rather prefer a bullet through the brain." I scoffed at Wes's as I moved away from the sink and back over to the gurney.

"Trust me, if I had it my way you would be enjoying a very slow and painful death for what you did to Jesse." I told him as I leaned against the side of the gurney, my back to Wes as I watched Damon clean up. "I would consider yourself very lucky that I already messed up once today. I'm just gonna compel your ass to the most remote place I can think of and call it a day."

I rolled my eyes when I heard Wes sighed in relief, focusing my attention on Damon as he opened up the fridge and shoved the vials back inside forcefully, looking about as pissed as I felt. Apparently something caught his eye because, just before Damon closed the door, he stopped and pulled out a blood bag.

"What the hell is this?" Damon questioned as he looked past me to Wes, "Why does this say 12144?"

"Why do you care?" Wes asked, sounding less sarcastic and more intrigued than was necessary.

"Because I was 21051." Damon replied looking back down at the blood bag. I may have been completely lost as to what Damon was talking about, but from the look on his face I knew it wasn't gonna be anything close to good.

"21051." Wes pondered over the number for a moment and I could almost here the connection click as he added, "Wait a minute. You were an Augustine vampire?"

"Augustine." Damon repeated slowly, remembering something that seemed to be something he would rather leave forgotten. "I haven't heard that name in decades."

"Okay, rewind." I spoke up, shaking my head in confusion, "What the hell is Augustine?"

"Vampire lab rats, coded subject names." Damon replied simply and I felt my heart drop as he looked back over to Wes, realizing that he had gone through the same freaky torture as Jesse had for God only knows how long. "I thought you guys shut down sixty years ago."

"You thought wrong." Wes said smugly, the urge to rip out his heart swelling once again, but by the look on Damon's face, it seemed like he would beat me to the punch.

I pushed myself off the gurney as Damon threw the blood bag back into the fridge, pulling out a random vile before slamming the door with so much force I was surprised he hadn't broken it.

"You know when Audrey said we weren't gonna kill you?" Damon questioned Wes as he picked up another syringe and started filling it up with whatever deadly virus he had grabbed. "Well, she was wrong."

Before Damon even had a chance to finish filling the syringe, I heard the sound of rubber snapping turned around only to be greeted with a scalpel to the side and Wes jumping out of the gurney.

"Son of a bitch!" I hissed as I pulled out the scalpel and threw it on the ground, watching as Wes ran for the door. I rolled my eyes as I vamp ran after him, Damon beating me by a millisecond, stopping in front of Wes before he could make it out of the room. "Did you really think you could outrun two vampires?" I questioned from where I had stopped behind Wes.

"No." Wes replied before reaching past Damon and slamming his hand against a big red button on the wall. I heard a hissing noise as some sort of gas was released from the sprinkler system and it felt like my lungs were on fire and I breathed in whatever the hell it was.

I fell to the ground only a moment before I broke into a fit of coughs, my body trying to fight against the burning, and I felt myself weakening by the second. I looked over to Damon to see that whatever it was had the same affect on him, which led to believe it was probably vervain.

"Atomized vervain." Wes stated, proving my assumption. "When working with vampires, one can never be too careful. I'm sure Augustine will be glad to have you back, Damon." I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness as Wes continued, the last thing I heard as the darkness was washing over me was Wes add, "And Augustine will certainly love figuring you out, Audrey."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

**Hello my lovely readers! So, I'm back. I do apologize for this accidental hiatus of sorts. Man if things haven't been hectic in my life, but I won't bore you with the details. I will say that I am back writing now so expect more frequent updates. Well, at least more frequent than every four months. Anyway, let me know what you think by clicking that lovely button below. Until next time…**

**Audrey;D**


	12. The Cell

**Chapter Twelve- The Cell**

**Third Person POV**

A pinch in his arm was the first thing Damon felt as he opened his eyes to the douchebag of a Professor standing over him. He caught sight of Wes pulling away a syringe and refilling it while he felt himself becoming more weak than he had been moments before.

"What the hell are you doing to me?" Damon glared weakly as Wes started walking away. Damon glanced around to see he was sitting against a wall in some sort of cell. A rush of fear rushed through him as he turned his head to the side, seeing his own initials carved into the stone wall behind him.

"Just some vervain to keep you calm." Wes answered as he closed the door to the cell, making sure to lock the door. The last thing he needed was Damon getting out and snapping his neck before he had a chance to continue his research.

"Wes?" Damon questioned as he looked back to the Professor, "Why am I here?"

"I lost a test subject last night. Now you and your girlfriend are going to replace him." Wes stated simply as he moved over to the cell next to Damon. The vampire's eyes widened as he just barely heard Audrey mumbling something in the other cell. He couldn't see her thanks to the stone wall separating them, only a small, barred opening at the bottom that he couldn't get to in his weakened state.

"Leave her alone." Damon snapped as he tried, in vain, to move over to the other side of the cell.

"Not likely." Wes replied as he stopped outside of Audrey's cell. "83182 is the first vampire I've seen that exhibits any talents above that of the average vampire. Telekinesis is something I've never experienced before. I can't wait to find out what exactly makes her so different from the rest of your kind."

Damon used the little strength he had left to pull himself over to the other side of the cell, looking through the small window where he could see Audrey laying, seemingly unconscious on the ground as she continued her mumbling.

"…there's always time to be a better man…" The words were familiar to Damon but he couldn't quite place where he had heard them before. "The money was too good to pass up…I'll be your doctor from now on." Damon scowled as he realized what she was seeing. The day that he was first taken to be apart of Dr. Whitmore's Augustine project.

"If you hurt her, I will personally rip out your heart." Damon threatened as Wes unlocked the cell and made his way over to Audrey.

Wes only chuckled as he injected Audrey with an extra large dose of vervain, better safe than sorry. Audrey slowly stopped her mumbling and went still as the vervain did it's job, the steady rise and fall of her chest the only sign she was even still breathing.

"That's awfully big talk for someone locked up in a cell." Wes said with a smirk as he locked up Audrey's cell.

"You know, it didn't end well for the last Augustine that crossed me." Damon groaned as he pulled himself back into a sitting position to face Wes as he stopped in front of his cell once more. "You're inviting bad karma in by keeping me here."

"Is that what you told Dr. Whitmore?" Wes questioned

"He wasn't really one for conversation." Damon replied, his mind wandering off to all the poking and prodding he had gone through during his time with the Augustine. It really was a good thing that the vampire upgrade included the ability to regenerate internal organs and eye tissue. "You Augustine freaks still into that, the eye exams and that sort of thing?"

"Jesse was proof that my research goes far beyond that." Wes answered with a smile as he put the cell door keys into his pocket. "I trained him to crave vampire blood instead of human blood. Now I'm ready to take my research to the next level." With one last look in Audrey's direction, Wes then headed toward the stairs that Damon knew led to the first floor of Whitmore house. As soon as Wes was gone, Damon moved back to the small opening in the wall, waiting for Audrey to wake up.

* * *

><p><strong>Audrey's P.O.V<strong>

My entire body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. Even simply opening my eyes took a lot out of me. Thank you vervain. I could definitely see why Damon had gotten rid of Mystic Falls entire supply of it a hundred and fifty years ago.

"Come on, Audrey. Wake up." I turned my head toward the sound and immediately regretted the decision, pain shooting through me as I did so. "Hey."

"Hi." I replied with a small smile. Damon seemed to be okay, which made this whole thing, whatever it was, a tad bit better. I rolled over onto my stomach in hopes of getting a better look at Damon through the small opening of the stone wall that was separating us, my muscles screaming in protest with every slight movement. I looked around and noticed that I was locked in some sort of cell that looked like I hadn't exactly been it's first occupant. "Where the hell are we?"

"In the basement of Whitmore House." Damon replied quickly, obviously he knew more about what was going on here than I did. "Looks like Wes is carrying on the grand Augustine tradition. Getting his kicks off of torturing vampires."

"Yeah, Augustine, you said that last night." I said as I looked back to Damon, remembering the vision I had seen while I had been unconscious. "Your great whatever nephew sold you out back in the fifties."

"Yep, 1953 to be exact. Good old Dr. Whitmore filled me with vervain and locked me down here." Damon replied before looking over his shoulder to something I couldn't see. "In this same cell actually. Don't think I haven't appreciated the irony. Every day that nut job tortured us, cut into us, took pieces of our eyes out, pushed us to every limit he could imagine, and he had quite the imagination."

My heart broke as Damon went over what he had gone through while he was in this hell. I moved my hand through the bars, ignoring the burning pain as I gently placed my hand on his, getting him to look back at me.

"How long were you here?" I asked, wishing I didn't have to but I needed to know the whole story if we were gonna figure out a way out of here.

"Five years give or take." Damon replied as if it was no big deal. I laid there in surprise not sure of what to say to that. Five years was a long time to go through what he had, it's not exactly like there was anything I could say to make it any better. "On the plus side, I made a friend. His name was Enzo. He had been a soldier in Europe during World War two."

"How'd he get here?" I questioned. I had never heard of Enzo before and there had to be some reason for that. Especially since he and Damon had spent five years locked up in here.

"Dr. Whitmore had been working in a battlefield hospital when he discovered Enzo was a vampire, so he drugged him and locked him in a coffin to ship him overseas. He'd been here for almost ten years by the time I joined the party." Damon answered before pulling himself into a sitting position where I could no longer see him. I pulled myself up and leaned my back against the cool stone wall between us as Damon stayed silent.

I looked around the cell, trying to find anything that could help get us out of here, but it wasn't looking very good.

"We have to find a way out of here before the creepy Professor gets back." I said, leaning my head back on the wall behind me. The last thing I wanted was for Wes to come back here and do anything to Damon. While I was fairly certain I would be the next one on the operating table, I didn't even want to risk it.

"We won't be doing much of anything until the vervain wears off." Damon stated matter-of-factly and I couldn't exactly disagree with him. I heard Damon get to his feet and walk over to the cell door. "Hopefully we'll be able to break through these then."

I really didn't like the odds of the vervain getting out of our system before Wes came back. He had been doing this for God knows how long and probably already had the vervain schedule down to a science. Hence why he was still alive and not vampire chow already.

"How did you do it? How did you survive all those years?" I questioned, hoping to get the rest of the story out of him.

"Enzo's friendship kept me alive, he gave me a reason to hang onto my humanity." Damon replied from the door of his cell. "I was never sure if he just really needed someone to talk to after all those years of isolation or not, but he never gave up trying to get me to talk about the most trivial things back then. Trust me that wasn't easy, I was Stefan level broody at the beginning." I smiled at Damon's ability to find humor in the most inappropriate situations but listened as he continued with his story. "And he would never shut up about this girl he had meet here. Maggie, one of Dr. Whitmore's assistants."

"He fell for a girl that was into vampire torture?" Okay, so maybe I was starting to question Enzo's insanity because that really didn't seem like a promising relationship characteristic.

"Well, he claimed that she never knew what was happening behind the scenes. She apparently took off as soon as she found out what Dr. Whitmore was doing." Damon cleared up before continuing on. "I still remember the day when he offered himself up to be tortured by Dr. Whitmore so I didn't have to.

"Well, he sounds like a good guy that had a really crappy hand dealt to him." I pointed out as I stared at the stone wall across from me

"Yeah." Damon sighed, "Yeah he was."

I sat there in confusion at Damon's sudden silence. Expecting to hear more from him but instead he just continued looking through the cell door without a word. Clearly I was missing a part of the story but I wasn't exactly sure that I wanted to bring it up.

As I was about to ask Damon another question, I heard the sound of a door opening down the hallway. I felt my blood run cold as someone made their way down the stairs. I ignored the ache in my body as I pulled myself to my feet, holding on the wall as I made my way to the barred door so I could get a better look at who was coming. I assumed it was just Wes on his way to start up a round of vampire torture but it wasn't until I caught side of the back of Wes slowly coming toward the row of cells that I realized that he was dragging someone along with him.

"No." I whispered when I caught sight of an unconscious Elena as Wes dragged her past Damon's cell. "Let her go, Wes. She doesn't have anything to do with this."

"Glad to see you're awake 83182." Wes greeted as he passed by my cell, laying Elena down to open the cell on the other side of mine. Quickly unlocking it and moving Elena inside. "And I gave your cousin fair warning to leave but she refused to listen. It's a good thing Grayson isn't here to see what has happened to her." With that Wes walked past Damon and I and right out of the basement.

I stood in shock for a minute, trying to give my mind a minute to catch up. How in the hell did Wes know Grayson? I knew my uncle had been apart of the Council back in Mystic Falls but this? Torture? It seemed too far out of reach for someone as caring as Grayson had been.

I shook my head, pushing aside all those questions for now, deciding to deal with the more pressing issue at the moment. I moved over to the other side of my cell and dropped down to my stomach, looking through the opening in the wall between Elena and I.

"We have to get out of here, Damon." I said as I kept my eyes on my unconscious cousin. Hoping against hope that I was right about who Wes would experiment on first.

"We will, Audrey. " Damon replied determinedly and I really hoped that he'd find a way out before Wes decided to come back.

* * *

><p>Damon and I sat in silence as we waited for Elena to wake up. I hadn't moved in the last half an hour but I could feel my strength returning slowly. Unfortunately it was going to take much longer before my telekinesis returned, which was the only way I could think of getting us all out of here short from just pulling the damn bars apart.<p>

I was pulled out of my thoughts by the sound of Elena groan and I immediately turned my attention back to my cousin. "Elena." I called out and she turned over to look my way, fear and confusion coloring her face.

"Audrey? What are you doing here? Where the hell is here?" Elena shot off, quickly coming back to life.

"We're still at Whitmore." I replied simply, "Apparently Jessie wasn't the first vampire Wes has experimented on. There's a whole society dedicated to it named Augustine."

"That can't be right." Elena insisted, her face dropping as he propped herself up on her elbows. "My dad was apart of Augustine, he would never do something like this."

"I know, Elena. And I promise, as soon as we get out of here, we can figure that out but right now we can't worry about that."

"How did you know about all of this anyway?" Elena questioned. "Did Wes tell you?"

"He didn't have too." Damon spoke up from the other cell, "I've been here before."

I saw the confusion on Elena's face return but shot her a look that told her to not say anything. "Speaking of," I started as I pulled myself to my feet, moving over to the front of the cell and leaning against the bars. "Did you ever tell anybody about this place?" I was really hoping that maybe Stefan would know about this place and would eventually connect the dots.

"Not until now." Was Damon's reply as he walked around the small cell

"But you were here for five years." I pointed out unnecessarily, obviously he knew that but Stefan had to have realized that his brother had been missing for half a decade.

"And for the first year I actually thought Stefan was gonna show up and rescue me. He didn't." Damon said, clearly bitter that his brother had let him down, even fifty some odd years later. "Once I escaped, there was no point in giving him more to feel guilty about, so I never told him."

"Well clearly you did escape." Elena pointed out, "How did you do it?"

I heard Damon sigh again before starting. "They let us out of the basement once a year. Every New Years Eve, the Augustine people had a little cocktail party with a vampire buffet on the side." I grimaced in disgust at the thought of all these people enjoying themselves while Damon and Enzo stood locked up as if they were just a source of amusement. And yet Wes had the nerve to call us monsters. "We were weak from vervain injections, half starved from living on only a glass of blood a day, and chained up like animals. This annual shindig was where Dr. Whitmore got to show all his Augustine friends what he's found in his research."

Damon went silent for a moment and I really wished that I was over there with him. He was always really good at hiding his emotions so seeing him like this was killing me. To think that he had been keeping this a secret for over fifty years must've been difficult but clearly not as hard as having to relieve it now.

"But on the bright side, that's when Enzo came up with his plan." Damon continued. "It was simple enough. The blood rations Dr. Whitmore had been giving us were barely enough for one vampire, so one of us would give our ration to the other everyday until the next New Year's Eve so they could build up enough strength to escape."

"I take it you were the lucky winner." I assumed as I leaned against the stone wall separating Damon and I. It was obvious that something had happened to Enzo and I was betting it had something to do with why Damon was being so cagey about how he had escaped.

"Yep." Damon replied simply, clearly not wanting to go into more depth than he had to. "And it worked. More or less."

"So, how did you get out?" Elena asked. I was starting to wonder if she realized how Damon was reacting to all of this or if she was too caught up in trying to get out to care. Either way, it was starting to piss me off.

"It doesn't matter, Elena." Damon answered as he stood in the back of his cell. "I got strong, I got out and it wasn't pretty. That's all you need to know."

I heard Elena sigh in frustration but she didn't push any further and Damon certainly didn't offer anything else. I slid down the wall until I was sitting on the cold ground once again, closing my eyes as I waited for my strength to fully return.

* * *

><p>It hadn't taken long for a good amount of Elena's strength to return. As soon as she could get to her feet, she had started pacing around her cell nervously.<p>

"Calm down, Elena." I spoke up from my spot on the ground

"Calm down?" Elena questioned as she finally stood still. "Wes is gonna come back down here and we're all going to be his newest Augustine experiment. And you want me to calm down?"

"He's not coming back down here for you!" I snapped at my cousin. Elena was silent and I took a deep breath before leaning my head back against the wall and looking up at the ceiling.

"You don't know that. It could be any of us." Elena said calmly and I couldn't help but let out a short humorless laugh.

"He knows about my telekinesis, Elena." I told her, shaking my head back and forth. "He's a researcher and I'm something he doesn't understand. It's not that difficult to figure it out."

"Well get out of here before that happens." Damon spoke up, proving that he had already come to the same conclusion I had.

"Damon I really hate to say it, but we need to know how you got out of here." I said, knowing there might be something in how he had escaped that could help us. Damon didn't say anything right away and I was beginning to think that he wasn't going to finish his story when he finally spoke up.

"Okay. The Augustines' next party was in 1958. I'd been drinking Enzo's rations for an entire year. Well, I mean, he kept a few drops here and there so he didn't desiccate, but he was right. As he starved himself, I felt myself getting stronger, strong enough to get out of the handcuffs. Dr. Whitmore didn't even see it coming. Unfortunately the other Augustines panicked and tried to run for their lives, not that it did them any good, but one of them managed to knock a candelabra to the ground and set the rug on fire. I barely even noticed until Enzo called me to help get him out of the cage they kept us in. But when we tried to pull the bars apart we realized that they were steeped in vervain. Enzo trusted me with his life. The fire was getting out of control and I would have burned up, or they would have captured me again. There's no way I would have ever gotten another chance of escaping."

Damon paused and it finally dawned on my what had happened but I still hoped that I was wrong. The thought of Damon having to choose to leave someone that close to him to die was too much. "So I chose to save myself. And I knew if I was going to save myself, that I had to stop caring about Enzo. So I turned off my emotions and I left my friend to die. After that, everything was fine."

I felt my heart break as Damon finished but couldn't think of anything to say. There wasn't anything I could say that would help. So instead I just sat there in silence, knowing that there wasn't a chance that I would be getting out of here before Wes came and got me but hoping Damon and Elena would be able to escape before Wes was done with me.

* * *

><p>The silence that had been lingering over Damon, Elena, and I for the last half an hour was suddenly broken by the sound of the door opening down the hall. I jumped to my feet and felt my heartbeat pick up speed. I was relieved that Damon and Elena would be alright but I knew every moment with Wes was going to be literal torture and honestly, I really didn't want to be on the receiving end this time.<p>

"What the hell is this place?" I let out the breath I didn't even realized I had been holding when I didn't recognize the voice that had spoken.

"Aaron?" Elena questioned in confusion and I leaned against the cell bars to get a better look at the only reason Wes was even alive right now.

"Great. Mini Wes." Damon drawled out sarcastically and I could almost hear him rolling his eyes.

"I didn't know what Wes was doing, I didn't even know this place had a basement." Aaron defended himself as he looked around the quasi-dungeon, trying to process everything that was happening at once.

"Aaron, you have to help us get out of here." Oh Elena, ever the optimist. Clearly she hadn't yet seen the gun that Aaron was holding in his trembling hand.

"I wanna know the truth." Aaron said, completely ignoring that Elena had even spoken. "When you met me at Megan's memorial, you asked me all these questions." He tried to load the gun with wooden bullets but ended up dropping some since his hands were shaking so much.

"Slick hands, cowboy." Damon commented, Aaron glaring at him in response

"Well, I never used a gun before!" Aaron snapped before focusing his attention back on Elena. "I've never killed anyone either. Unlike you."

"What are you talking about?" Elena asked

"Wes said a vampire killed Megan." Aaron said, raising the gun and aiming it straight at Elena.

"Please tell me you don't seriously think Elena did it." I scoffed at Aaron's accusation. "It's more likely freaking Dracula showed up and took a bite out of your friend."

"Megan was inside of the house. I hadn't even been invited in yet. You just-" Elena tried to explain to Aaron but he decided to cut her off

"Wes also said that a vampire killed my parents." Aaron continued, clearly past the point of rational thinking. I guess finding out that vampires existed could do that to a person.

"That doesn't make any-" Elena tried again but Aaron just wasn't having it

"Why else would you be so interested in me?" He added and I looked back down at the gun he was holding.

"Aaron, you need to calm down." I spoke up, moving his attention from Elena to me, "Elena didn't kill your friend, and she sure as hell didn't kill your parents."

"She's a vampire!" Was his response as if that was all the proof he needed

"But not the one that killed your parents. That was all me." I turned my head toward Damon in confusion. It was obvious enough by his tone that he was telling the truth but it didn't make any sense for him to kill Aaron's parents.

"What did you just say?" Aaron questioned before turning the gun to Damon, rage taking over his features, "Start talking."

"In 1958, after the fire, Enzo was dead, so I had to take on my revenge plan solo. That meant killing every member of the Whitmore family. Except one. I let that one person grow up and start their own family before I started killing Whitmores again. Leaving only to carry on the Whitmore name. Then I'd take out the next generation, and well, you get the idea. And that's exactly what I did."

I had to admit, for a revenge plan, it was pretty brilliant. I mean, yes it was borderline psychotic, but still, a really good revenge plan.

"How many Whitmores have you killed?" Aaron questioned shakily

"Since 1958? I lost count."

"When was the last one Damon?" I asked, trying to figure out how he had been able to fit in this grand revenge plan in with everything that had been going on back home.

"A few months ago when you two, Caroline, and Aurora took that weekend trip to Virginia Beach after graduation." Damon replied. Well I guess that explained why he didn't want to go, "Her name was Sarah. Had to go all the way to Charleston to find her. I told you it wasn't pretty."

I jumped at the sound of the gun going off and it took me a minute to register that Aaron had just shot Damon. "No!" I yelled as I dropped down and tried to get a good look at Damon through the small window between our cells. I sighed in relief when I saw that Aaron had only got him in the head, knowing it would have been much worse if it had been anywhere near his heart. Then again that was gonna sting like a bitch when Damon woke up.

I heard the sound of the basement door opening and closing once again, but didn't bother looking up, already knowing who it was.

"Aaron, get out of here." The sound of Wes's calm voice sent a wave of anger through me. I didn't hear any resistance from Aaron, only the sound of his retreating footsteps as he made his way out of the basement. "You're boyfriend must have done something terrible to get Aaron to shoot him."

I got to my feet as I heard Wes unlocking my cell door. I felt the veins underneath my eyes pop up as my fangs elongated. "Not nearly as terrible as what I'm going to do to you." I spat out before turning and lunging at the psycho professor and tackling him to the ground. I moved my hands to either side of his head but before I had a chance to snap his neck I felt something poke me in the chest and immediately felt myself weaken once again. Wes pushed me off of him and I looked toward him as he got to his feet, triumphantly holding a now empty syringe.

"I didn't really think you were going to come willingly 83182, good thing I was prepared."

I turned my head toward Elena's cell and saw her leaning up against the bars, her eyes watering as she looked down at me. My eyes slowly closed as the vervain took over and in a matter of seconds I was succumbed by darkness.

* * *

><p>The sound of someone whistling greeted me as I slowly returned to consciousness. I peeled my eyes open only to look straight into the blinding light above me. I tried to move my arms to block it but something was stopping me from doing do. I looked down and noticed for the first time that I was strapped to the same type of table that Wes had been tied to in his lab. I tried to break free, but with the new round of vervain that definitely wasn't going to happen.<p>

"What the hell?" I groaned as I went limp on the table, the slight movement against the restraints already exhausting me. The whistling suddenly cut off, alerting me to the fact that there was someone else here and I turned my head to see a dark haired vampire strapped down on the table next to me,

"Welcome." The vampire greeted in an extremely cheerful tone despite the whole being held prisoner thing. "I'm 12144. My name is Enzo."

Okay, maybe I was doped up on all the vervain but I swear he had said his name was Enzo. As in the vampire best friend/cell mate Damon had left to die in a fire over fifty years ago Enzo. I stared at Enzo in shock as he started his whistling again and couldn't think of anything to say, too many questions swimming through my mind at once. I felt another wave of exhaustion wash over me and my eyes closed against my will, the vervain winning the fight over me and I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness once more.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

**_Told you I'd update in less than four months. Hope you all enjoyed. If you're feeling generous, make sure you leave a review on your way out. Those little notifications always make my day, not to mention fuel my muse. Well, off to write the next next time..._**

**_Audrey;D_**


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